Raven of Durmstrang
by Verkos
Summary: Hadrian Black is entering his fourth year at Durmstrang Institute, and looking forward to it. He has excelled during his time there, and hopes to bring pride to not only his aunt, but his school as well. And, he has been given the chance with the reemergence of Triwizard Tournament, only problem it is being held at Hogwarts. Rated T.
1. Chapter 1 Memory and Trip

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Harry Potter Universe, be it characters, setting, or other information. That all belongs to JK Rowling and the respective movie companies. Thank you for taking time to read this. Updated and beta read by haphne24

As Harry finished packing, he began to feel as if he was forgetting something. He pondered and finally it came to him; his wand! He grabbed it from his nightstand, quickly feeling the warmth spread through him again, just like the first time.

Harry remembered being nervous. It wasn't often that he and his aunt went to Diagon Alley. Once she had told him the truth about his family, how they were still alive, not dead in an accident, he had wished to never see them, and so he and his aunt rarely went to English magical locations, but rather to other nations, especially France and Germany. However, this time his aunt insisted that they get his wand from Ollivanders, since she said they made the best wands in Europe, better than the many French wandmakers, the only one coming close was Gregorovitch, but he was still second best to Ollivander. Thus they had headed out on Harry's eleventh birthday.

As soon as they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, they made their way quickly to Ollivander's. Harry was very nervous keeping his head down following his aunt through the alley. Once they arrived Dorea pushed Harry forward into the store. Harry looked around noticing the many different shelves and cubbies in the room, suddenly an old man with long wavy hair appeared. The man smiled upon seeing Harry's aunt.

"Ah, Dorea Black! How nice it is to see you again, what can I do for you?" The man quickly inquired.

"Now Garrick, it is Dorea Potter, and has been for quite some time, as you well know. I have brought my nephew Hadrian Black to get his wand."

"Ah, Hadrian Black you say… I must say you look much more a Potter than a Black." Before Harry, or Dorea, could respond the man quickly summoned a floating tape measure which soon zipped about Harry. "Now, young Mr. Black, which is your wand hand?" Harry quickly indicated his right and soon the tape was measuring everything about his hand and arm; length, width, circumference, everything. "Dorea, I never did learn what your core was...It is rosewood, 11", no?"

"Close, Garrick. Rosewood 10 ¾", with Unicorn Hair. It has served me quite well."

"Ah, yes, good for healing, I am sure. Now, Mr. Black try this one Holly with Dragon Heartstring 10", good for barriers." And, so it began for nearly half an hour Ollivander would bring out different wands; sometimes stating the wood and core and what would excel at and sometimes not. At one point, he had brought out one that he seemed quite hesitant to take out. Handing Harry the wand, Ollivander had said it was Holly with a Phoenix core. Harry had thought he might have felt something, but Ollivander had quickly taken it back. Eventually, Ollivander had brought a long dark wand. Starting from the base, the pommed oval, egg like; the grip was twisted, not overly so, but enough for the same chord to fully twist twice over about three inches; then for about two inches were nordic or celtic knot designs; ending in a long straight edge. The wood was very dark, almost black, and with polishing it would certainly appear so from a distance. The pommel of the wand looked fairly plain, but on a deeper look one could see some strange winged horse creatures engraved. They looked almost like skeletal pegasus. "Ah, this is not one of mine, but rather one of the last of my father's. Blackthorn, 13", with thestral hair for the core. My father even engraved the beasts on the wand. Good for most magics, certainly more of the martial areas." And, with that he handed the wand to Harry. Instantly the wand emitted silver and dark red, almost burgundy, sparks. Harry was overcome with a feeling of rightness and comfort; almost as if he had been missing one of his senses and it had just come back. Looking up, he saw both Ollivander and his aunt Dorea looking at him. "Very nice, Mr. Black. That is an extremely strong wand there; I do not often use Thestral hair myself, very finicky wands they make. Coupled with Blackthorn...well that one is a very… silver-lining wand. For Blackthorns give the sweetest fruits after the harshest frost!" And, with that comment both Harry and Dorea were left slightly confused. They paid for the wand and left the shop.

When they were about three shops down they heard Mr Ollivander call out as someone entered his shop, "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Potter! Why just some minutes ago your aunt and her neph…" The shop's door closing cutting of the rest of the speech, and Harry and Dorea quickly left the area.

Harry's daydreaming was quickly cut off with a, "Master Black must hurry. Mistress is sayings you needs to be leaving now." Harry turned to see Milsey, their house elf staring up at him.

"I am ready Milsey, just on my way down actually, but thank you for coming to get me." As Harry reached for his case Milsey quickly grabbed it and popped away. Harry smiled as he made his way downstairs; when he had arrived he had tried to continue doing the chores the Dursleys expected of him, scaring Milsey and ever since she would try to minimize the amount of work Harry did around the house.

Opening the door, he found his aunt as always standing next to the fireplace. She didn't look her 74 years, in part due to wizards and witches aging slower, but also due to her lifestyle and healthy living. To a muggle she would look to be in her 50s. She had her long black hair elegantly done, and was wearing traditional wizarding robes. She smiled as Harry came in and kissed his cheek.

"Now I want you to be careful this year, and remember, do not let your grades slip. I love you, and show everyone the greatness of the Blacks and England."

"Yes, Aunt Dorea. I love you, too; I will see you at Christmas." With a parting kiss, Harry grabbed some floo and called out the international portkey station. Just as he stepped into the green flames, Harry heard his aunt say something; he didn't hear everything exact, but it sounded almost like "maybe sooner". Perhaps she was talking to herself about something else. While largely withdrawn from the outside world Dorea Potter still had connections in most of the magical governments, and would help get support for certain policies or laws.

The trip to Durmstrang was a slight hassle for Harry. First, he would floo to the international portkey station, get the Portkey to the German ministry, and from there he would take the portkey to Lubeck and wait for the ship Skithblathnir to arrive. He would then take the ship to the ancient fortress that served to house the institute. Harry knew that the school was in the north of Scandinavia, but unsure of where exactly. The Skithblathnir was sailed by the Professors of the institute and would make port in several ports along the Baltic before heading north. Harry had once asked why they went to some ports over others, and had been told they were the cities that had once been part of the Hanseatic League and in medieval times the ship would pretend to be a merchant shop from the north. The Skithblathnir would move much faster than a normal one and would make it to several cities in a few hours and back to Durmstrang in the same day.

The Skithblathnir would pull into a little bay that opened to the ocean from the north. Inside the bay there was a little harbor that housed the ship during the year. Looking south,one could see three mountains. The first was nearly directly south of the dock, with the slope of the mountain starting almost at the edge of the water, the second mountain was right behind the first, with the third to the southwest. As the students disembarked they would take carriages pulled by granian horses. The path skirted the edge of the first mountain. At the base of the second mountain there were several buildings: the creature studies building, several greenhouses, and the quidditch field. To the east of the two mountains was one of the many lakes that dotted the area.. About halfway up the mountain Durmstrang rose out of the mountain. The walls and towers came straight out of the steep slope, with only one small path leading up to the gate. The mountain was extremely steep, especially near the castle; for 30 feet below the castle the mountain was nearly vertical.

The castle itself was dark gray, almost black. Its walls were nearly forty feet tall and 15 feet thick. The ten great square towers were visible and intimidating; one in each of the four corners, two beside each gate, and one where the inner walls connected to the outer walls. The outer gate was shifted to the west while the inner gate was shifted to the east. Once inside the gates the first thing you noticed was the great hall. Located at the back of the fortress, built into the side of the mountain, the great hall looked like a gothic cathedral. Giant, ornately carved doors depicting great wizarding battles, the latest being Grindelwald's duel with Dumbledore. To the west of the hall was the barracks, which was the dormitory for the students, and while it did not appear to be able to house all the students, it descended into the mountain, having rooms for all students. It followed the gothic look, and was a two story (above ground) square building. To the north of the barracks was the potions and herbology building, which had a small greenhouse attached. North of that, against the inner walls, was the theoretical building, which housed arithmancy, astronomy, magical theory, and history of magics: the building was one of the taller ones, being four floors, with the top having glass roofs for astronomy. To the east of the great hall was the runes and rituals building, which was built into the mountainside as well. To the south of that was the Amphitheatre, which housed art and music classes, and a full theatre; it was a semi-circular building like old greek ones, but was enclosed due to the elements. South of that and nestled between the inner and east walls was the battle magics building which housed both a dueling ring and stage, but as well as a full arsenal to defend the castle should it ever be attacked.

Walking inside the great hall, Harry noticed Highmaster Kirillovich. Kirillovich was a very stoic individual, with his short cropped goatee and shaved head; he was intimidating for most of the students. His numerous tattoos covered not only his arms and neck, but head as well, further strengthened this feeling, but it was his eyes that truly scared people, they were pale grey, almost bordering on white, and seemed to search one's soul for its weaknesses.

Harry remembered when his aunt had found out a former death eater Karkaroff had been highmaster. That quickly changed fairly quickly and Sergey Kirillovich ascended to the position. The highmaster was strict, but fair. He was very well liked by the students, especially after the almost tyrannical-rule of Karkaroff. Along with him were the other professors: Ana Albu, professor of transfiguration; Miroslav Draganov, potions; Ilanna Andersen, herbology; Ander Weissman, magical theory; Wulfgar Thorsson, charms; Daniel Selwyn, battle magics; Layla Varlamov, history of magic; Simon Rodriguez, astronomy; Vanessa Konig; creature studies; Samuel Kielholz, arithmancy; Abdul Alhazred, runes; Joseph von Marienberg, art and music; and Sigrunn Alfsson, rituals.

While usually quite reserved, many of the professors seemed almost giddy. Harry had not seen the faculty behave similarly before; it was quite unnerving. Once everyone settled into their seats, and the first years were seated at the front of the hall, the headmaster began to speak.

"Greetings students, I welcome one and all. To those of you who are joining us for the first time, take a look around you, not only your professors, but your peers behind you will help you succeed here and grow to be great. However, know that we expect you to be diligent and studious, temperate and inquisitive, resourceful and ambitious. There are many secrets here in our fortress, some you will be shown, but many more you must search and find yourself so be prepared, for your education now begins. For those of you who are returning, you know the expectations placed upon you snd, as always strive for success." That would be the normal speech before the meal, and just as everyone was about to start eating the Kirillovich continued, "This year a great chance for Durmstrang has presented itself. For this year, we here at Durmstrang, and our cousins of Beauxbatons Academy and Hogwarts School, will be competing in the Triwizard Tournament." With those words students quickly began whispering to themselves and those around them. The Triwizard Tournament! They all knew of it, of course. It was well known for both its high death rate, and the fierce competition it brewed between the three schools. Just as the conversations were starting to gain ground the Highmaster continued, "This will be the first time the competition has been held in two centuries, and it has been decided to be held at Hogwarts this year, so come October myself and several other professors will lead a delegation to Hogwarts school to compete and observe the tournament. Know this, there will be an age requirement for competing, with only those of majority being able to enter into the tournament," At this the whispers began again, mostly from people who would not be 17 by October, "However, we will be taking four students from years 1 through 6 to observe and participate in the other activities scheduled besides the tournament. The top four students will be taken, now you may eat."

With that, the students began to eat and talk about the tournament. Harry mostly kept quiet, having not seen his friends at his table. His thoughts on the tournament were quite mixed; he liked the idea of bringing glory and respect to his family and his school, but the age limit, and that it was taking place at Hogwarts effectively destroyed that idea. He had no wish to go to that school, though the top four ranks from the lower years did present an issue, he knew he was at the top spot from the previous year; his escapade at the end of the previous year insured that.

Not only had he beaten every third year in Battle Magic, Professor Selwyn had forced Harry to duel not only the fourth years, where he had again beaten everyone, but also the fifth years, which had similar consequences. Ultimately, Professor Selwyn had a middle ranked sixth year duel Harry, which Harry quite definitively lost, which ended his rise. However, Harry had grown to have quite the following. Before he had been known as the quiet studious kid, who while did well, was not someone to be feared, but since he had earned a reputation and was feared, not only by those of his grade but the students of the two he had defeated.

Sighing, Harry believed he would indeed be going to Hogwarts for part of the year. He would need to write to Dorea, see what she suggested. With that, Harry concentrated on his food and upcoming studies.


	2. Chapter 2 Hogwarts

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in regards to Harry Potter. That is JK Rowling and the respective movie and publishing companies. Thank you for reading reviews would be appreciated.

Over the next couple of weeks Harry would settle in quite nicely. He continued to excel in his classes, with Professor Selwyn even having him study through a completely different curriculum than the others. He had said there was little point in wasting both his and Harry's time, so they might as well start Harry on the higher materials. It was not the same as the fifth or sixth year curriculums, but rather seemed an odd combination of the two with maybe some seventh year material and some other stuff that Selwyn himself knew. In addition to Battle Magics, Harry was taking Transfiguration, Charms, Creature Studies, Magical Theory, Potions, Arithmancy, Rituals, and History. Overall, potions was his worst class and took the most effort for Harry. Thankfully Professor Dragonov was patient and always available for help. Most of his classes he had been taking for the last couple of years, but it was the first year that Rituals was available, and it was quite different. Their Professor, Sigrunn Alfsson, was beyond ancient and yet you could almost feel the magic around him. He had a shaved head that was doted with what seemed like tribal tattoos, but on closer inspection the ink was constantly changing. He had a beard of gray that while long, was far from the archetypical wizard's beard, but rather was formed into two throngs and would look more at home upon a viking or other medieval opening speech revealed the mystery and limited knowledge wizards truly knew about magic.

"Rituals are older than the use of wands, and as varied as the cultures that dot the earth. There are rituals take seconds, to some that span years. Some are benign and call for little more than your intention or will, and other call for the blood of hundreds, or those of your greatest enemies. I will be teaching you the nature of Roman, and Northern European, specifically Norse, rituals, but you can find many more across the world. Rituals as a whole are taught very little, and out of the major 11, Durmstrang is one of three to offer a course. Due to the unknown nature and lack of knowledge, often rituals are seen as dark and evil. Which some are undoubtedly are, but there are some that are their opposites. So be careful, and be known if I hear of you using any of the knowledge I teach you irresponsibly, you will answer to me." Some of the student had chuckled at this, as the professor was small and old and some thought he was joking, but his glare quickly stopped those thoughts. And, so Harry began his delving into the new world of rituals.

Besides classes, Harry had played a few pick up quidditch games, and while he tried his best he was always beaten to the snitch by Durmstrang's famous Viktor Krum. While Krum always beat him, Krum would always laugh and encourage him. Krum was a good guy, and would help Harry learn new tricks when he had the time. Also, the dueling club was always one of Harry's favourite past times. Since last year's event, many of the current sixth years wanted to duel him to regain their status, and yet he maintained that as well as giving many seventh years a run for their money.

During that time Harry had written to Doea, and she had written back and had assured him that it would be fine. Any interaction with the Potters would be negligible she assured him, few would recognize him as having a familial connection. Harry had to agree with that; he looked quite different to when he first arrived with his aunt or even to his first year. He no longer wore glasses, now preferring muggle contacts, and his hair was longer, and no longer as messy. He now kept his shoulder length black hair tamed and straight, which definitely made him look more Black than Potter. So, Harry no longer felt an extreme concern, but rather a distaste of being forced into the situation. It could not be helped though.

And so it was on October 24th that Harry and the other members of the delegation bid farewell to the school and their friends. Accompanying the delegation were Highmaster Kirillovich and Professors Selwyn and Albu. Before leaving Harry had been given assignments and expectations by nearly all of his other professors, except Professor Alfsson, who only gave him a book and told him to read. Harry was starting to get excited, and yet he would miss his best friends Alexey and Arianna, both of whom fell short of the top four from the year.

The trip to scotland was quick, taking only a few hours by the ship, and as they pulled into the loch near Hogwarts you could feel the excitement in the air. The castle of Hogwarts stood tall on the hill side, and its many towers and tall spires created a sense of wonder that even the older students could not hide. They made port next a little dock and were greeted by the Hogwarts student body, faculty, and Headmaster. Albus Dumbledore did not disappoint in his long gray robes, sweeping white beard, and twinkling eyes. Much like Professor Alfsson, you could feel the magic around him. The Highmaster was the first to disembark, followed by Professor Albu and the seventh years, with the remaining students falling into line by years and Professor Selwyn bringing up the end.

"Ah! Sergey, welcome, welcome. Olympe has already arrived and taken her students in," the Highmaster and Headmaster shook hands, and begun to walk up towards the castle. The Hogwarts students parted letting Harry's schoolmates follow through. While passing, Harry could not help but observe the differences in uniform. The Hogwarts student all wore black robes, almost indistinguishable except for different little crests over the heart of each, He spotter four different ones, a green snake, a yellow badger, a red lion, and a blue raven. Harry knew of the different houses, yet he could see many of the others looking at the crests perplexed. The Durmstrang uniforms were much more martial to the Hogwarts ones; Deep burgundy in color, they wore a knee length robe over black shirt and pants with high black dress boots. Over top all they wore a half-cloak which reached their elbows. Entering the castle and then their great hall they were greeted by both more students, both Hogwarts and Beauxbatons, and an openness and brightness quite foreign to Durmstrang. The ceiling was enchanted to reflect the outside sky and drew much attention. Harry and the others were shepherded over to the slytherin table, while the Beauxbatons students were already seated with the ravenclaws.

"Welcome Beauxbatons and Durmstrang! We hope to get to know you well over the coming months, and look forward to learning from you," Harry knew that not many of the students knew English, so he had started translating Dumbledore's speech into German for those around him. The others who did speak English did the same. Due to the multitude of different nationalities German was used for all classes at Durmstrang, and was the lingua franca of the school. Dumbledore continued explaining the rules of the tournament, about the three tasks, the reward money of a thousand galleons, and the age requirement. At the end of his speech the Goblet of Fire was brought out and he placed the age line around the Goblet. Once finished with that the Headmaster began the feast.

During the feast Klaus, a sixth year who regularly dueled Harry, turned to him and said, "You are at the wrong table, eh Harry?"

One of the slytherins, a boy who had pale skin and bright blond hair looked up at them glancing to Harry asking in German, "Why are you at the wrong table?" The boy seemed almost insulted, as if Klaus had been saying his table was not good enough. Not wanting to offend the students Harry responded in English.

"It is because of my nickname. Some call me the Raven, he was just referencing Ravenclaws animal." That seemed to appease the boy, who looked surprised at Harry being English.

"Oh, why do they call you that? And, are your from England? Why did you not come to Hogwarts?"

"I called that due to my house's family crest, it has a raven on it. I am English, but my aunt decided to send me to Durmstrang due to the different courses offered." That answer was vague enough, and would most likely not offend the slytherin boy.

"That make sense, my father almost sent me their, but my mother didn't like the thought of me being so far away." With that the boy seemed to think for a moment, "I am Draco Malfoy, by the way. You said a raven, the only English family with a raven are the Blacks, no?"

"Yes, my name is Hadrian Black. But, call me Harry." The boy, Draco, immediately had a look of confusion on his face when Harry mentioned his name.

"Black, but whose son are you? My mother in Narcissa Malfoy nee Black, so we must be related. But, the only remaining Black is Sirius, and I would have known if he had a son."

"Oh, my father was his brother Regulus. He died before I was born, and when my mother grew ill she brought me to my aunt Dorea, who raised me." Draco's surprise increased dramatically. Regulus had a son? He was sure no one knew about that, His mother would surely want to know that. And, an aunt Dorea? The only Dorea Black he knew of had married a Potter.

"Dorea? The same Dorea who married a Potter? Didn't she die?"

"The same, and no she is still alive and doing quite well. Uncle Charlus died before I began living with her. She tends to mostly keep to herself, and is not to involved in English society." That seemed to give Draco something to think over, for he was quiet for several minutes until a girl next to him asked him to introduce her. Draco then introduced her and others his year. There was Pansy Parkinson (the girl who asked), Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini, Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis, and Millicent Bulstrode. Harry then introduced those around him and started speaking with everyone. He found out that they were the same age as himself, and quite nice. Many of them had questions about Durmstrang, which Harry tried to answer as best as possible, and then he would translate for his schoolmates who had questions.

Once the supper was over, everyone began to the leave the hall and that was when Harry had his run in. As he and most of the others students were leaving another student ran into him from behind. Turning his head he came face to face with Henry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. They boy glared at Harry and seemed to blame him. Harry didn't say a word just turned and walked out.

"Jeez, he was rude?" Harry heard a voice say as he left.

"Ya, but then you were right before Ron. Durmstrang is dark. I mean just look at where they sat, with the slytherins." Before Harry could lose his temper he walked out of the room and back to the _Skithblathnir_. Once he got back to the ship Harry took a seat, and thought over his encounter. He had done the right thing, he didn't engage, and he did not draw attention. And, all things considered for a first encounter with the boy-who-lived, that had not been terrible. Harry's concerns about appearance were now totally destroyed. Harry looked nothing like Henry. Henry had shorter, browner, unkempt hair which seemed to go all over the place. Henry's eyes were brown, and we wore large circular glasses as well. No, overall the meeting was a good thing. With that realization he went to sleep.

The next day Harry and the other Durmstrang students began to make their way up to castle for breakfast. When they arrived, the hall was held only a fraction of the numbers from the night before, with only a few of the Hogwarts professors being present, and only some ravenclaws and a few hufflepuffs so far. The Beauxbatons students had yet to arrive, so the Durmstrang students decided to sit with the ravenclaws. Conversation was slow to start, but eventually those that spoke both English and German were able to get the conversations going. It seemed that the ravenclaws were known for their studious nature, which caused Klaus again to comment on it being the right table for Harry. Harry laughed and smiled to the comment. As they were eating more students began to wander in. Some of the Beauxbatons students sat with the ravenclaws and durmstrang students, others sat with the hufflepuffs. When Draco and his year mates walked in, he nodded to Harry and then continued to his table. The last large group to arrive were the gryffindors. While some of the house had arrived earlier, the majority including Potter and his friend were the last to arrive. As the meal began to end, Dumbledore began to rise once again and addressed everyone.

"Good morning! In spirit of the tournament and the forging of bonds between our great school, I have offered to let the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students accompany students of the respective years to the classes for the day. I believe that both beauxbatons and Durmstrang brought four students from the lower years correct?" With a nod from Kirillovich and Maxime, Dumbledore continued, "Good, good. Let's see today is Tuesday, so let us have the Durmstrang students accompany Slytherin and Beauxbatons with Hufflepuff?" This time Dumbledore looked to an older strict looking woman, who thought for a moment before nodding in agreement. "Ah splendid, Severus if you could assign a student from each year, the same Pomona, and we shall be off." With that a small rotund lady and a tall, severe looking man in black descended and starting calling out names. The Highmaster soon joined and directed them to their slytherin counterparts. It worked out that all but two of the years had someone who spoke English. So, Professors Selwyn and Albu decided to accompany those that did not.

Harry was pleased, Draco was the student chosen for his year, but most of the people he had been introduced to the previous night were there as well. Harry quickly introduced them to his classmates. With him were Adriaan de Vries, Havel Bruzek, and Marcsa Szabo. Harry was friendly with the other three, but they had different sets of friends. Adriaan was a genius at potions, herbology, and creatures. Havel was a battle magics enthusiast like Harry, and they were friendly rivals. Marcsa was dreaming of being an alchemist, so she was great in potions, astronomy, and transfiguration. Overall, all four were a strong representation.

"So, first we have Charms, followed by Transfiguration, then lunch. After that we have our electives, which you will come with me to Care of Magical Creatures, and ending the day with Defense of the Dark Arts. sounds good?" Harry translated Draco's schedule, and everyone nodded. They all took those classes, or their equivalents so it should be fine. With that they headed off to charms.

Harry had to admit he liked the bubbly little charms teacher, who reminded him of a less stern and more friendly Draganov. He was very helpful and very excited to be having guests. Once they got started, Harry was a little disappointed that they were only doing the summoning charm, as they had covered that at the beginning of the year. But, Harry and the others just observed, with them occasionally helping those around them. The class was shared with the ravenclaws, and seemed like a mostly standard type of class. Harry did notice they spend more time of the theoretical then Durmstrang tended to, but that was of little consequence.

The next period was transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs and beauxbatons. Adriaan spoke french so he was excited to be able to interact a little more. The strict woman from the morning was the professor, and she seemed very knowledgeable. She would have fit well in at Durmstrang with her no nonsense approach, and Harry and the others felt very comfortable. They had been transfiguring porcupines into pincushions, which was again something they had already done as well. Just like charms, Hogwarts spent more time of the theoretical framework then Durmstrang. When Adriaan asked about how it compared to Beauxbatons, he said they were about the same as Hogwarts so far. After class they headed back to the hall for lunch. Once there Harry and the others joined Draco and his friend for lunch.

"Draco, do most of your classes give so much time to the theoretical aspect?" Draco looked at Harry and nodded, looking kind of curious as to where this was going, "Doesn't that get repetitive with your magical theory course? Won't you end up repeating most of it?"

"Magical Theory? We don't have that...wait I think you can take that after O.W.L.'s like alchemy if you want. Are you saying you take that now?" Harry was surprised by this, and once he translated for the others they were quite surprised as well. Marcsa asked about what classes were mandatory for the Hogwarts group, and they were all surprised that Arithmancy was not and yet astronomy was. It seemed very odd. It made sense now why they had to do so much theoretical work as well, they didn't have a class for it.

Soon after lunch they headed out with Draco, and a few of the others. Daphne, Tracey, Theodore, and Blaise all left for their arithmancy class. Draco sighed as they approached a little hut that had a students gathering outside of it. Once there Harry saw that this class was with the gryffindors, and unfortunately Henry Potter was in this class. It seemed Draco and Potter did not get along at all, and they started trading barbs. Harry and the others just quietly watched until the redhead with Potter, Ralph, Rick, R-something, had pointed at them and called them all evil mini dark lords. Harry would have let it go, but the others knowing something had been said about them had demanded a translation. Once Harry translated it Adriaan and Havel calmed down slightly, shruggin off the comment., Marcsa, however, was incensed. Her grandfather had died fighting Grindelwald, and to her R-something had just compared her to him. Her wand was out and a flash and she angrily started towards the redhead. Harry tried to calm her, but she had switched to her native Hungarian, and Harry had no idea what she was saying. Thankfully the professor, a huge looking man arrived and his deep voice cut through to Marcsa, and she put away her wand.

For the class they were taking care of something called Blast-Ended Skrewts. They were small disgusting creatures that seemed very dangerous. Overall this class was very different from their Creature Studies, and speaking with Draco, it seemed a portion of their Creature Studies was in the Hogwarts Defense class. Thankfully the class ended and they headed up to the school for said Defense. Once they arrived they entered a classroom, again with the gryffindors, to find a grizzled, scarred, one-legged, one-eyed man waiting for them, Once everyone sat down he introduced himself as Alastor Moody, a name that even the Durmstrang students were aware of.

"Today we are going to be going over the imperious curse. We went over the three unforgivables yesterday so today we will be going over how to fight the imperious off."

With that a bushy haired gryffindor sitting with Potter asked, "You mean you are going to cast it on us?"

"Yes I am. If you are uncomfortable with that then you may watch, but you never know what might happen, and this way you will know what it is like to fight it under a controlled place. Now you are to do anything to stop me from controlling you. Any questions?" As Harry had been translating this Havel turned and asked what he meant by anything. "Anything, I am sure I can handle whatever you students can dish out. Any other questions? No. If you are watching go to the side of the room, those what are participating line up."

With that everyone got into line. Harry and the others were at the back Daphne and Blaise, the other slytherins being mixed in the line. So far no one had done much to fight it off and every student had ended up jumping on top of a desk. One student, a chubby gryffindor, Longbottom had halted for a second before complying. Eventually it reached Potter who sort of fought it off eventually half jumping and hitting the desk. Moody was very pleased and tried Potter again who didn't move this time. It continued on with every other student jumping until it reached Harry.

"Impe-" Before the man could finish the word Harry had his wand out and had sent off several spells, two cutting curses, a bone breaker, and a disarm. The disarm was silent, and the others were whispered to give a little away. The Professor was shocked for a second before diving out of the way. As Moody did so Harry cast spells to conjure a foot thick wall between the two and then continued with his barrage. Eventually Moody began responding with spells of his own and Harry was forced back a little. But it continued for several minutes, with Moody getting more and more involved. The Hogwarts students were quite impressed, never seeing someone their age fight so expertly. The Durmstrang students were used to such. Eventually Moody was able to disarm Harry with a successful chain that had concealed the disarm behind several nastier curses. Harry dealt with the curses, but didn't notice the disarm. Once Moody had his wand, he cast imperio this time. It now was a mental battle, and Harry started hiding behind his occlumency shields. As Moody began ordering him to jump, he began to break out into a sweat, eventually Harry's shields were strong enough and he broke the imperius.

"By Merlin, that is how you do it! Is that what they are teaching at Durmstrang these days? What was your name boy?"  
"Hadrian Black sir" At the name Black several of the gryffindors looked up. Mostly the purebloods. Most notably it was Potter and Moody who were the most surprised.

"Black you say? Who was your father?"

"Regulus, sir. He died during the war however. I live with my aunt Dorea." Moody's magical eye zipped to Potter and then back. Henry was looking even more confused.

"Hmm...Well, good job, good job. Now who here can tell me what was good about Mr. Black's defense?"

"He didn't wait for you to curse him sir?" The bushy haired girl once again.

"Also, he grouped his spells into chains like you, and he whispered them?" Daphne this time,

"Yes to both. Muggles have a saying, a strong offense is the best defense. And Mr. Black just showed the truth to that, Rather then just stand and wait to be cursed he took the advantage. The greatest defense to the imperius is to not get cursed in the first place. Now Mr. Black care to explain how you broke the imperious?"

"I used my occlumency shields and waited for you to wear yourself down sir."

"Occlumency! Another thing they teach at Durmstrang? Ah nevermind. Let us see if your classmates are as good." With that Havel started, and like Harry he opened with an attack. However, Moody was prepared for it this time and quickly beat Havel down and then imperiused him. He did better than most of the Hogwarts students, not quite as well as Potter. Next was Adriaan who while decent in battle magic, was nowhere near Harry, or even Havel's skill was quickly beaten and imperiused. He did the same as most of Hogwarts students. Finally Marcsa was up, and R-something made some comment right before she started. She didn't know what he said, but she understood it was directed at her. So as soon as her match started she transfigured a wall. Then she quickly transfigured a box around Moody, and then lastly a whole beneath him. Moody fell into the classroom below, which happened to be Professor Flitwick's charms. Moody landed on his desk startling not only the little teacher, but the class as well. To only further confuse the poor charms class, Moody started laughing uncontrollably and yelled that their class was dismissed. It was nearing four, with supper not until six, so Harry and others left their slytherin friends and headed to their ship to catch up on their own school work. Marcsa was still angry about the gryffindor boy, but being the only one to beat Moody had helped her mood.

For supper, they again made their way to the great hall, but one entering the Durmstrang students were greeted with hushed whispers, curious glances, and outright starring. It was slightly unnerving. Harry and the others quickly settled in at the slytherin table, where they were receiving the least amount of stares. As they sat down, Draco appeared next to them.

"Why is everyone staring at us?"

"The defense against dark arts lesson spread." Upon seeing Harry's continued questioning look, Draco elaborated, "Yours and the other's fights with Professor Moody have hit the rumor mill."

"Okay, but why are most people staring at me and not Marcsa? She was the one who dropped Moody down on that charms class."

A response was quick, but surprisingly came not from Draco, but Daphne, "Well, the fact that you are a black and managed to hold of Mad Eye for as long as you did has created quite the storm."

Arnond, a third year Durmstrang student who knew English, then voiced his opinion, "So the Raven is making himself known here as well?"

"The Raven?"

"Yes, Harry here is our Raven, the Raven of Durmstrang. He earned the name when he beat not only last year's fourth, but also fifth year students in duels." Draco looked surprised and almost a little angry.

"I thought you said the name was just because of your family."

Arnond smiled, "Is that what he said, well the Raven is very modest. But, no, the nickname came from Odin, the old norse god of war and battle. He was also known as the Raven God. So when Harry here made his mark, some started calling him the Raven God, but it got shortened just to the Raven. The family connection was also a reason I guess, but it was more secondary." With that the Hogwarts students nearby seemed to look at Harry in a different light. Harry felt almost like on display and tried to focus on his meal. Just as everyone was about to leave, Professor Dumbledore once again stood and addressed the crowd.

"Good evening. I hope you all had your fill. Before you trot off for the evening Professor Flitwick has an announcement." Dumbledore then sat down, making way for the little professor to address the school.

"Ah. In light of today's activities and the rumors of ones of today's defense classes," everyone's turned to look at Harry for a moment before returning to Flitwick, "I have had several students approach me about starting a dueling club once again. I know that this was attempted two years ago, but since it is functioning club at both Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, I thought we could try it again. I have spoken with Professor Selwyn from Durmstrang, and he has agreed to help run the club for the year. It will be led by myself and him, and all students, from all three schools and every year are welcome to attend. We will be hosting the first session tomorrow night. Thank you and good evening." With that the conversations erupted across the room. Harry was quite relieved; he had been sad that he would not be able to continue with the club this year, but now that there was one here it would be good.

When the durmstrang students arrived back at their boat, Harry, Reinhard, and Illyana were called to Professor Selwyn's cabin.

"I called you three, to inform you will be helping run and teach tomorrow evening. You three are well versed in dueling, and since most of the Hogwarts students have had little formal training or experience myself and Professor Flitwick thought we would need the extra hands. I have spoken with Madam Maxine and she said she would speak to her three best duelists as well. Any questions?" When the three shook their heads, they were dismissed. As Harry was almost at the door, he turned back to Selwyn.

"Professor, wouldn't it make more sense to have another seventh year?"

"Black, you are my third best duelist. You may loose to some of the other seventh years, just due to their higher quantity of spells, but your actual dueling skills are superb. Now get out."With that Harry left, with a smile.


	3. Chapter 3 Dueling and Tea

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Harry Potter universe, that belongs to JK Rowling, the publishing and move companies. Reviews are appreciated.

The next day the Durmstrang students did not accompany the Hogwarts students again, but rather borrowed a large classroom and worked on their own courses. Each student had a list of that they worked through each class. They mostly worked independently and if they had questions they would ask Selwyn, Albu, or Kirillovich. When some students started to work on their potions they would go down to the dungeons and work under the Hogwarts professor, He apparently spoke German and French and received notes from Professor Draganov and the Beauxbatons potions professor about what they would be working on. Harry had focused on his transfiguration for the day, and ended up working with Klaus and Marcsa for most of the day.

After supper that evening, the Hogwarts great hall was redecorated. The four great benches were whisked away and seven long thin platforms were summoned. An eighth taller and wider was in the center. Both Professors Flitwick and Selwyn were on the stage, but many other professors were present. Both Highmaster and Professor Albu were there, the French headmistress Maxine, and Hogwarts had professors Dumbledore, Moody, Snape, McGonagall, Sprout, and Vector present. From the size of the crowd, it appeared every student had decided to come. Professor Flitwick quickly cast a sonorous charm and addressed the crowd.

"Evening. Well we have quite the turnout. So first let introduce myself. My name is Filius Flitwick, I teach charms here at Hogwarts. What many of you might not know is that I was a dueling champion for several years. With me if Professor Daniel Selwyn, the Battle Magics professor at Durmstrang. For the Hogwarts and Beauxbatons students, that is similar to our Defense against the Dark Arts. Professor Selwyn served several years as private consultant for Auror Divisions across Europe, and was a dueling champion for the years between 81 and 84. Now since there is such a large turnout we will be having some students from both Durmstrang and Beauxbatons help us. Please can we have said student join us up here." Harry made his way up with Reinhard and Illyana. From Beauxbatons a very attractive blond girl, a brown haired boy, and a short brunette girl also came up. All three looked to be seventh year students "Ah good. From Beauxbatons we have Fleur Delacour, Jean Artois, and Adeline de Bourgogne. From Durmstrang we have Reinhard von Bearn, Illyana Androvich, and Hadrian Black. All six speak English, and the language of their schools. Now these students will be helping run this, and they will each be in charge of a year. I will be taking the seventh years and Professor Selwyn will be moving around the different tables."

Suddenly one of the hogwarts seventh years yelled out, a gryffindor by his robes, "But that one is only a fourth year!" The student was pointing right at Harry.

"Now Mr. Ogbourne I assure you these six stude-" Flitwick was cut off when Selwyn spoke.

"Filius, perhaps it would be best for him and the others to see what Black here can do." Taking a look around the room Filius could see many students agreed with Sean Ogbourne. "How about a duel Mr. Ogbourne? Against Black here. How skilled are you in Defense?" At the last question Selwyn looked towards Moody, who yelled out the Ogbourne was doing well, probably about eighth or ninth in the class. The boy in question had made his way up to the stage and was now glaring at Harry. Professor Flitwick stood in the center as the others moved off.

"Alright, the rules are no curses that could cause permanent damage or disfigurement. Any questions?" With both Harry and Ogbourne shaking their heads he moved out of the way. When Flitwick called the start, both Harry and Ogbourne bowed and as soon as they were upright Harry began. Much like his duel with the Moody, Harry started off on the offensive, several disarms, a blinding curse, a body bind, and a knockout spell were out with in a matter of seconds. All were either whispered or silent. Ogbourne had started off with a blasting curse, but he had foolishly yelled it as loud as possible, as if the volume of one's voice affected the strength of the spell. Harry dodged, not bothering with a shield. Continuing his onslaught on Ogbourne, Harry had driven the boy to be totally of the defensive. Deciding to finish it, Harry quickly cast an earth wave which caused Ogbourne to fall and drop his shield. As soon as that happened Harry got him with a disarm, body bind, and a jinx that caused the person in question to loose all feeling in the extremities. Flitwick called the match in Harry's favour. Turning, Harry saw most of the Hogwarts students and staff watching him in surprise.

"I believe that answers any questions to Black's credentials, no? Good. Lets see. Delacour you got the sixth years, von Bearn fifth, Black fourth, Artois third, de Bourgogne second, and Androvich first. Alright those who wish to participate make your way to where your year instructor is." With that everyone began moving off. Harry led his group over to one of the stages and had them get into pairs of equal strength. He had them start practicing first in disarming and shielding. He quickly asked Havel to help and walk around. Even without the language, Havel would be able to correct people's stances and tell if the pair was not matched well. Adriaan was key in talking with the fourth year Beauxbatons students, as Harry had no understanding of French. There were some pairs that were very mismatched, and Harry had to shuffle some students around to make it more even. Once everyone had a good stance he then would have a pair battle on stage. He would referee and then discuss what was done right, and what should have happened. It seemed to be going well, until during a match between the bushy haired gryffindor and Daphne. Daphne won and Harry then began to talk about what the gryffindor did wrong. This seemed to upset Henry and his redhead friend.

"You are just picking on Hermione because she is a muggleborn!" The redhead had eventually yelled out.

"I assure you that Hermione, that is your name?" The girl nodded, "That Hermione's blood status has nothing to do with her skills in dueling. She was far to analytical in the fight, and it slowed down her reaction time. Also, by just standing in place she hurt her chances. A moving target is harder to hit."

"As if! Everyone knows that Durmstrang doesn't accept muggleborns and that everyone who goes there is blood purist, or worse a mini death eater. And, you're a Black! Of course you are a blood purist!" Just as Harry was starting to get annoyed, and was about to respond angrily when the potions professor wandered by and interceded.

"Weasley 20 points from Gryffindor. If you can not show our guests respect and proper manners you will be having detentions for the rest of the year and banned from extracurriculars as a whole. It looked like Potter was going to say something to the professor the Dumbledore appeared, twinkling eyes and all.

"And how is it going here? Proceeding well Mr. Black?"

"Certainly Professor Dumbledore. We were just discussing what enabled Daphne here to beat Hermione."

"Oh? Do explain."  
"Well overall, it was due to Hermione thinking too much. A good duelist is intelligent, but you have to a have a feeling for the rhythm. If you think about it too much, your reaction time slows down. Also, she stood in place rather than moving about."

"Ah, yes, yes. Much like dancing I find. Why I remember one time with my brother we were dueling and I had a similar reaction. My brother didn't think as hard on what to do, and soundly beat me. Dueling is not as much a chess match as it is a dance. You must respond to your partner." That agreement from Dumbledore seemed to curb any gryffindor attitude for the rest of the evening. As the event started to die down, Professor Flitwick announced that they would be having a tournament at the end of November, and sessions every week. Just as Harry was leaving he was again approached by Dumbledore once again.

"Ah Mr. Black I was wondering if you would like to have a cup of tea?" Looking around the room Harry caught the eye of the Highmaster who had been watching nearby. He nodded his head signalling that it was alright with him.

"Ah, certainly Professor Dumbledore, sir."

"Splendid, this way." Dumbledore led Harry through the halls to the central tower. Once they arrived outside a Gargoyle statue Dumbledore said, "Mars Bars," and, the gargoyle moved aside revealing a staircase. Entering the office, Harry couldn't help but look around. He noticed a phoenix nearby and a host of books all around. Several portraits around the room looked over at Harry and Dumbledore. "Care for a sherbert lemon? It is a muggle candy, that I find myself quite obsessed with at the moment."

"Certainly," taking one, Harry found it slightly bitter, but pleasantly so. "So, what did you want to discus, sir?"

"I must say, that I find myself quite curious about you and your history. I think you may be one of the few Blacks that has not come to Hogwarts in a very long time." At the name Black, one of the portraits sputtered and began looking at Harry quite intensely.

"Ah, well my aunt thought that Durmstrang offered more courses that would interest me."

"Your aunt? I have heard that your father was Regulus, and I knew he had passed, but I thought you perhaps lived with your mother. May I ask who is your mother? And, who is this aunt you live with?"

"Um… my mum was Emily Rosier. She passed away, I now live with my Aunt Dorea. I think you know her. She married Charlus Potter." At that the portrait that had been staring at Harry interrupted.

"Dumbledore, you old goat, who is this boy? And, what are you talking about Regulus for!"

"Ah, Phineas, my apologies. This is Hadrian Black, your great great grandson, and he is Regulus' son. Hadrian, this would be Phineas Nigellus Black, you great great great grandfather, and former Headmaster, before Armando Dippet, my predecessor, succeeded him."

"Oh, hello sir. You must be Aunt Dorea's grandfather! She is my guardian. She occasionally talks about you."

"Regulus' son you say. And, raised by Dorea. Perhaps there is still hope for my family. I had thought that flea infested worthless mutt was the last. Good to know. You tell your aunt to visit my portrait. I have words for my granddaughter."

"I must admit my curiosity. I had been under the impression that Dorea had died with her husband Charlus. How was it that you came to live with her?" Dumbledore once again spoke.

"Oh, when my mother was getting ill, she contacted my aunt. She ultimately passed due a bad case of dragon pox. Aunt Dorea is still doing well. She was hit hard with Uncle Charlus death, and decided to largely withdraw from England following his passing."

"Quite understandable, his passing was a sad time for many here in England. I assume, since you are part of your delegation, you are one of the top four of your year. And, quite the duelist!"

"Ah, yes sir. I was top student last year, and my best subject is Battle Magics. I do well in all, though I do struggle in potions."

"Good! The Blacks are the greatest English family, it is good to see someone is carrying on our traditions. Not wasting their time running around trying to get some criminal to kill them."

"Come now Phineas. Sirius work with the auror department is important, and helps to keep the country safe. Hadrian, are you acquainted with your uncle? Or his friends the Potters? I have seen you speaking with young Mr. Malfoy, but you have other family left in England as well."

"Ah, no sir. I have not spoken with them before. Monday was the first day that I had met Draco before, He had mentioned that his mother was my father's cousin. But, I hadn't really thought about him as family. My Aunt and I mostly stick to the continent. Most of my friends are from Durmstrang. We live at Uncle Charlus estate, which he left to her, but we travel quite a bit."

"Hmm...well thank you Mr. have answered many of the questions. And I look forward to future conversations." Harry agreed and wished the Headmaster a good night and left. Once back at the ship the Highmaster inquired about the nature of Harry's conversation with Dumbledore. Harry told him the majority of it. To which Kirillovich nodded to. After writing a letter to his aunt explaining his time so far at Hogwarts, and especially his conversation with Draco and Dumbledore Harry went to bed.

The following morning Harry made his way up to the castle along with his fellow students. Draco and his friends were there this morning, So Harry decided to join them. Havel and Marcsa joined him, and they attempted to learn some English and converse with those around. The students all entered earlier this morning than the previous, and seemed be still excited from the dueling the night before. At about half eight several Owls descended on Harry. Harry's own snowy owl Hedwig had returned with Dorea's response. Also, there was a regal looking eagle owl, and a flamboyant looking bird that Harry had never seen before.

Draco seeing the owl had quickly spoken, "That's Victoria, my mother's owl. She must have written to you."

"Umm...Do you know whose bird this one is? Or even what kind of bird it is?" Harry asked pointed to the random colored one. Draco shook his head looking equally perplexed. Harry gave each bird a piece of sausage and a knut in thanks and sent them off. The first letter was from his Aunt starting off with general inquiries and praises. She acknowledged the information about Harry's conversations with Draco and Dumbledore and stated he was free to talk with whoever, and if someone was wanting to set up meetings, to have them owl her. She was surprised that Harry had met her father's portrait, as the man had been known as the least liked Headmaster in history, and had assumed his portrait had been removed. She said she would try to get a hold of copy of the portrait to converse with him. Next Harry read Draco's mother's letter.

 _Dear Hadrian Black,_

 _Greetings and salutations. I am writing to introduce myself, as I was your father's first cousin, thus making us first cousins once removed. Draco has told me about his meeting you and subsequent interactions. I can not say how pleased to learn of another family member of the Blacks continuing. Our once numerous family has been brought quite low over the years. I have instructed Draco to help you in any regard while you are at Hogwarts, and if you have any concerns or needs do not hesitate to write to myself or my husband Lucius. Family is a rare and important bond._

 _Your Cousin,_

 _Narcissa Malfoy nee Black_

It was nice of her to write, and offer her support. He would need to write a thank you letter. Flipping to the last, and the unknown letter Harry read it.

 _Dear Hadrian_

 _Umm… Hello. I am not really sure what to write. And, honestly was quite surprised to learn about you. I am your Uncle Sirius, and was your father's older brother. I won't lie and say we were the greatest of brothers, but I would like to get to know you and if you are interested let me know. I have heard that you live with Aunt Dorea, which was another surprise. If you need anything let me know or go see Henry Potter. He is my godson, so basically your cousin (doubly since Dorea is his great aunt)._

 _Cheers_

 _Sirius Black_

 _Senior Auror_

 _Department of Magical Law Enforcement_

"So who owns that gaudy bird?" Draco quickly asked seeing Harry was done reading.

"Umm… I guess my Uncle. I mean Sirius Black. He must have heard about me. Overall it was similar to your mom's. I mean same message: would like to get to know me, if I need anything write or see you, or in this case Potter."

"That Blood Traitor? Just forget about him. We don't need their sort." At those words Harry turned to look at Draco. He hadn't thought about it, but it made sense that Draco was a blood purist. He would need to watch what was said. Sor far Draco had been nice, and not said anything terrible, but Harry would not put up with bigotry. His aunt had raised him better than that.


	4. Chapter 4 The Champions

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Harry Potter Brand or universe, that belongs to the Publishing companies and JK Rowling. Reviews are appreciated.

The rest of the week was similar to Wednesday, except without the dueling. On the weekend they had gotten a quidditch game going. Harry had faced off against Viktor again, and had actually almost got the snitch. The Hogwart students were amazed and had started to focus in on Viktor. Eventually they got two mixed teams going. Harry was on a team with two gryffindor twins, who were beaters, then two beauxbatons chasers, a gryffindor chaser, and a ravenclaw keeper. They played against Krum, with a durmstrang chaser and keeper, two beauxbaton beaters, and three gryffindor chasers. The match was really good. Harry's beaters, while far from professional level, did manage to tie up Krum once or twice, the chasers on both sides were exceptional, and the keepers were good. In the end Harry once again almost got the snitch, but Viktor got it coming out of an incredible dive. Overall it was a great weekend.

Monday morning, you could feel the excitement. It was the 31st and today the three champions would be chosen. Harry was sure that Viktor was going to be chosen. Most people thought he was just a meathead, but he was top of his year. He specialized in transfiguration, and was a slight prodigy. Professor Albu constantly praised him. His charms were excellent, He wasn't the top duelist, but he was in the top five of his year. From what Harry had observed of the Beauxbatons students it would be Fleur Delacour. She was extremely powerful and a skilled duelist. He had learned that she was part veela, which explained why so many students stared at her, and made Harry glad for his occlumency training and mental shields to negate the alure. The Hogwarts champion on the other hand seemed to up to debate. While there undoubtedly were strong wizards here, they did not have a clear hierarchy like Durmstrang, or a standout like Beauxbatons. And, the nature of the Goblet, made that unpredictability greater.

Eventually Harry and the others muddled their way through the day, and made it to the meal that evening. When they arrived in the great hall Harry noticed two new men sitting with the professors, a jolly man, and stern looking one. As everyone sat Dumbledore began the introductions. The two men were from the British Ministry of Magic, and were going to be judges. Soon the goblet began to smoke and the first paper was released. Fleur Delacour was chosen, as Harry suspected, to represent Beauxbatons. Next Viktor's name appeared, followed by Cedric Diggory. He was a sixth year hufflepuff, whom Harry had yet to meet. All the champions had left the great hall to meet in a smaller room as their names came out. Then a fourth paper shot from the goblet. Dumbledore called for Henry Potter and he as well made his way. Madam Maxime and Highmaster Kirillovich made their way with Dumbledore out of the hall. Both seemed quite angry. Harry noticed Professor Selwyn motion for Harry to join him, and he did. They entered the room to arguing going on.

"I was under the idea, that each school had one champion, making three contestants, three wizards. Hence the name Triwizard." The Highmaster's cold voice had cut through much chatter.

"I concur! What is the meaning of this Dumbledore?" Madame Maxime's loud voice echoed after.

"If Barty says he has to compete, then he will have to compete. He knows the rules inside out." The jolly man, Bagman was it, interceded.

"In which case, would it not be just easier for Durmstrang and Beauxbatons to choose an additional champion to compete as well?" Professor Selwyn's question drew all eyes to him.

"Two seventh years against a seventh and fourth, hardly seems fair." Bagman said.

"Our second will also be a fourth year. Black here can handle himself." At Selwyn's words the Highmaster's gaze shifted to Harry for a moment, then back to Selwyn and nodded.

"Yes, a second, a fourth year as well. Ours will be Black. Olympe, do you have a fourth year who could compete? If not we would be in favour of letting you have a fifth or sixth year as your second." As she seemed to consider it, she nodded.

"Oui, we have a sixth year who could compete."

The english delegation looked quite shocked. The strict judge turned, "Now you can not do that. The rules state their names must come out of the goblet!"

"The rules also state one student from each school. If that one must compete, we will have seconds as well!" Kirillovich's tone offered no room for arguing.

"I believe that would be fair," Dumbledore finally weighed in, taking his gaze off of Potter, "But your seconds must agree to compete of their free will." Dumbledore now gazed at Harry, leaving the question unasked.

"I will compete for my school." Harry's voice was clear, much clearer than he himself felt. Madame Maxime had gone to the door and called out a name. A tall sixth year boy, with long brown hair came. She quickly explained to him what was going on and then he turned.

"I, Jacques des Cartes, will compete."

"Oh, well I guess that handles that. Hmm...the first task will be November 24th, which we are going to need to rework out. Professors are forbidden from helping you specifically for the tournament. Best of Luck!" With that the ministry men left. Slowly the others left Fleur and Jacques quickly struck up a conversation. As Harry and Viktor walked out he quickly spoke to Viktor.

"I hope you don't see this as an attempt to take away your right as our champion?"

Viktor quickly shook his head, "No, I am aware of how things change. Plus who better than me and the Raven to show the greatness of Durmstrang?" Harry felt immediately better and rushed to owl his aunt. Arriving back at the boat everyone wanted to know what was going on. Viktor explained there would be a senior and junior champion for each school, and that Harry was theirs. Everyone accepted this and began to celebrate.

The morning arrived with some trepidation as Harry waited for his aunt's letter. Before it arrived however Professor Selwyn collected both Harry and Viktor and took them towards Dumbledore's office. Once arriving, Harry noticed it was much larger this time, and many people were seated inside. The two Ministry men, several aurors, two french families, Viktor's parents, the Potters, a group he assumed as the Diggorys, and his aunt. Harry walked over to his aunt, she smiled and hugged him tightly. Harry could feel the eyes of the Potters, Dumbledore, and some of the aurors watching him he quickly sat down. Soon Potter and Cedric arrived, and then Fleur and the des Cartes boy. Once everyone was there Dumbledore began.

"Good morning, good morning. Sherbert lemon anyone? No. Ah, well onto business then. So the six of you are our champions. We have rearranged the first task to be a school based one, so the champions from each school will compete together. The second and third will be individual. Now no that extra security and safety procedures on top of those already in place will be done. Director Bones," Dumbledore pointed to the woman leading the aurors, "will be leading those efforts, as well as investigation into how Henry's name came to be entered."

At that Director Bones stepped in, "Yes, thank you Albus. Now I want all the families to know we will take your children's safety as our chief concern. We will step into the tasks when we feel they are in severe danger. Now, until we discover who entered Potter I will be having two aurors stationed here to conduct interviews and investigate. Senior Auror Black, and Junior Auror Tonks will be heading the investigation." Harry quickly turned to the two, He noticed both were watching him. Feeling nervous Harry nodded, and the turned his attention back to Madame Bones. "I believe that will be all for know, we will be conducting interviews with most students about the goblet to see if they notice anything. If you have questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact me."

With that most of everyone was dismissed and given the day to speak with their families. The Potters, thankfully, were requested to remain so they could be interviewed. Sirius stayed for those interviews, but the younger auror quickly caught up to Harry and Dorea.

"Excuse me, sorry for interrupting, but are you really a Black?"

"Yes, he is dear. As once was I. And, you are?"

"Oh, I am Nymphadora Tonks. Just call me Tonks though. My mom was a Black. She was Andromeda Black, before she married. So, I guess that makes us cousins!"

"Ah, little Andi. She was always a good girl. Well it is a pleasure to meet you. I am your great grand Aunt. So you are an auror as well. Dangerous work."

"Uh a little. It isn't to bad. Well I got to get back I thought I would introduce myself to my little cousin. See ya!"And, with that the girl was off. Harry had to shake his head.

"Well, she seemed interesting."

"She's family dear. Of course she would be slightly crazy, all of the family is. And, besides I have heard she is a metamorphmagus. They are even more crazy than the rest of us." For the rest of the day Harry spent with his aunt. They walked to the _Skithblathnir_ , and then over the Hogsmeade. They explored the little village, and ended up drinking at a local pub, the Three Broomsticks. It was nice and calming. His aunt reassured him that everything was fine with her. She had received letters from Sirius, James Potter, Narcissa, and even Dumbledore. All inquiring about her health, and Harry, subtlety in the case of Dumbledore and Narcissa, and directly from James and Sirius. She had related the established story, which seemed to solidify it for everyone. Sirius seemed to be sincere in his wish to get to known Harry, and it seemed the same with Narcissa. Dorea explained to him, the Malfoy history, especially with how Lucius had basically bought his way out of prison. She cautioned him with his interactions with them, but did not forbid them. Eventually It was time for Dorea to leave, and Harry headed back to the ship.


	5. Chapter 5 Aurors and Reporters

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Harry Potter Universe, be it plot, characters, setting, or anything else. Reviews are appreciated. Thank you for reading.

Over the next couple of weeks, Harry established a nice rhythm. He would study and do his homework in the mornings, practice with Viktor and Professor Selwyn in the afternoons, and then reading in the evenings. Besides the occasional quidditch match, the dueling club, and meals Harry was practicing in some form for the task. Dueling club had been going well, and every week he was assigned to a different age group. He found the Hogwarts second years to be his favorite, they weren't as new as the first, and yet they had not had time to establish to bad habits. Also, he had met Daphne's little sister Astoria. Astoria was quite bubbly and charming, she constantly brought out laughter. Due to that Harry had begun to spend more time with Daphne at meals. And, he found that he enjoyed spending time with her. Not only was she drop dead gorgeous, with her long blond hair and piercing blue eyes, but she was easily one of the smartest people Harry had met. She had been particularly interested when Harry mentioned he was taking a class on rituals. It appeared, she knew a couple family ones, and had always found them to be interesting. This spurned the conversation into the theoretical, and then into anything and everything. Over the weeks Harry could safely say he had indeed made a true friend.

One of the more awkward times before the task was when Sirius Black finally introduced himself. It was the Friday after the selection, and Harry had just finished having lunch with the slytherins. As Harry was making his way down the hill towards the ship a voice called out.

"Hey Hadrian, wait a moment," turning Harry saw the senior auror chasing after him. Once he arrived he was quiet for a second before starting, "So, umm, Hi! I am your Uncle!"

Harry couldn't help but raise his eyebrow, "Yes, and I your nephew. How do you do, sir?"

"Oh, you can call me Sirius. I was just wondering if you had a moment to chat?"

Harry looked around. He knew that there was still time before meeting with Viktor and Professor Selwyn, so he nodded his ascent. "That is fine, I have some time before my training for the afternoon. And, you may call me Harry if you wish." At that Sirius seemed almost taken aback for a moment, then nodded. They made their way over to a tree nearby and sat down.

"So, I hear that your mom passed away from Dragon Pox. I am sorry."

"Not your fault, and I was young. Aunt Dorea helped me through it."

"Still. I should have been there for you. Can I ask why your mom went to Dorea? Why didn't she go to my mother or one of my grandfathers?"

"Oh, well your mother was dead I believe, she got sick in about 88. And, she felt that I would be better off with Aunt Dorea. I mean her and Uncle Charlus were not as involved in the war, and so seemed the most stable choice. What's the point of leaving me with a person who may end of being arrested or dying?"

"Hmm, I guess. Well, I heard that you are an amazing duelist. Managed to hold of old Mad Eye for bit even. That is quite the accomplishment. I know many aurors who could not do as well." The conversation continued, becoming easier for both on the shared interest. Eventually though it drifted to Harry's time at Hogwarts. "So, make any friends here yet? I still find it slightly odd that Dorea sent you to Durmstrang, but how are you liking Hogwarts?"

"It is alright, I find the structure of the classes and even those offered very limiting. As for friends, well Daphne is definitely one-"

"Oh Daphne is it? A hit with the ladies, nice. Daphne? What is her family name?"

"Greengrass, I believe," that seemed to deflate Sirius' excitement a bit, "and, for other friends; well I guess there is Draco and Blaise. Tracey is nice, too. There a few others, but those are the main ones." Sirius' face went from slightly happy to concerned by the time Harry finished.

"Draco _Malfoy_ and Blaise _Zabini_?" Harry nodded, "You can't hang around them. They're dark, especially Malfoy! His father should be in Azkaban, but he bought his way out, No! You are forbidden from seeing them. You should hang out with Henry, and some other gryffindors!"

"Excuse me? For one thing you have absolutely no right to tell me who I can spend my time with, or any other aspect of my life. I remind you Auror Black, that you were unaware of my existence until a week ago. Now as to them being dark, I really couldn't care. So long as they do not do anything illegal, it is not any of my business."

"Lucius Malfoy was a Death Eater! He killed and tortured dozens of people!"

"But, not Draco. Or Blaise. Both were only a year old at the end of the war."

"They are blood-purists!"

"I have gotten that impression yes. However, they have not said anything in front of me. I don't stand for bigotry, and they would know it if they said anything. However, they have not said or done anything where they have let the personal beliefs impact their decorum in my time with them, Something that I can not say about your godson and his little friends. You want to know why I do not "hang out with them" is because they are just as bigoted and have been extremely rude. The first time I met them they ran into me and the called me a dark wizard! Next time they insulted not only myself but my classmates as being dark lords. One of those classmates her grandfather died personally dueling Grindelwald. So, if you want to talk about bigots, maybe you should look to your own house first!"

"That was a misunderstanding! The Potters are good family! They are different from the Malfoys and the Blacks!"

"Oh really? What is it that the Blacks did with squib children?"

"They abandoned them! They were removed from the family!"

"And how is that different from the Potters? Aunt Dorea told me about Henry's twin. Pray do tell what happened to the squip son? What did they do to him? Because I have seen no reference to him for the past 13 years. So from my perspective there is little difference. Now good day Auror Black, and please do not speak to me again!" With that Harry pushed past the shocked man, and made his way down to the _Skithblathnir_. Since that conversation Black had stayed away. Occasionally he would pass him the halls and attempt to speak, but Harry would just ignore him and move away as quickly as possible.

The other auror, was much better. Tonks had also become someone Harry could see as a good friend. She was light, funny, and mischievous. She must have known Harry was not speaking with her partner, but never asked what had occurred between the two, which Harry greatly appreciated.

One afternoon while training, Harry was summoned to meet with the Highmaster. Upon entering he found Viktor there as well, that meant the meeting was about the Tournament. "Come Black. It is time for the Weighing of the Wands."

This was not something that Harry was familiar with, "Weighing of the Wands? Sir, what is that?"

"A simple ceremony where the wands are examined by an expert to make sure they are in working condition. There will also be a reporter, the British Ministry wishes to use the tournament to show their vitality and thus have sought the use of a local one." Soon the group made their way to a classroom, upon entering Harry found that they were the last group to arrive. Present were not only the other champions and their respective school leaders, but Mr. Ollivander, a blond woman in very bright robes, a cameraman, and the ministry men.

The jolly man, Bagman quickly addressed the group, "Ah right, time to begin, when you are called up hand Ollivander your wand. Simple!" The man seemed quite chuffed with himself for doing so little, and moved out of the way.

First up was Fleur, whose wand contained a hair from her grandmother, who was a full blooded Veela, then Cedric with his ash and unicorn hair, then Viktor with his Hornbeam and dragon heartstring, then des Cartes was up who had an ash and thunderbird feather. With Henry's turn Ollivander looked at the wand in detail and for longer than the others.

"Ah, 11", Holly and Phoenix feather. Ah yes, taking care of it?"

"Umm...I try to sir." From Henry's response Harry got the feeling, that the wand was not well kept. Like the others Ollivander cast spell, this time conjuring birds. Harry wondered if the others were amazed as much as he was, this man cast all the spells silently and with no wand movement. All with someone else's wand, too. Ollivander was a very talented and skilled wizard, there could be no doubt of that. Finally it was Harry's turn. Approaching he handed the wand over.

"Ah, the young Mr. Black again. I hope you have been taking care of it."

"Yes, sir." Harry handed it over. Ollivander began examining it. He seemed to be taking more time with it than he had with the others, even Henry's.

"Yes, yes. Blackthorn with Thestral Hair. I have often wondered how my father made some of these last ones. The skill and craftsmanship is just exquisite. Do tell, how is your aunt?"

"She is doing well, sir. We spent some time in Bavaria this last Summer."

"Good. I tell you she is a remarkable woman, why I remember this one time in fifth year -" Whatever anecdote Ollivander was about to go into was cut short by the reporter caughing. Ollivander's eyes snapped to the woman, "Ms. Skeeter 10", Chestnut with a Dragon Heartsting. You may wish to see a healer about your throat," The reporter nodded, and Ollivander turned back to Harry. He quickly used it to transfigure a quill into a miniature owl and back. An, "Excellent condition," and he was handing it back to Harry.

Harry moved back and was about to leave when the reporter shouted, "Picture time!" She quickly maneuvered everyone a group picture. The different school champions were grouped each other with Fleur and Jacques in the center and the younger members slightly in front of the older ones. Once the picture was taken it was decided that individual ones would be taken while Skeeter interviewed the champions one on one. She of course started with the-Boy-Who-Lived and dragged him to a side room. The individual pictures did not take long and it soon left the other five champions standing there. It was an awkward silence until Dumbledore started talking about some candy. That seemed to break the tension and smaller conversations begun. Harry found himself talking to Jacques about a small town in southern France that they had both visited.

After several minutes Henry threw the side rooms door open and stormed out of the room. Skeeter soon followed and smiled asking for Viktor this time. Several minutes later he to came out, looking slightly annoyed, but nowhere near Potter's frustration. As Fleur took her turn, Viktor walked over and spoke to Harry.

"Be careful, that is one of the worst reporters I have ever met. If she starts getting annoying tell her she must speak to the Highmaster." With that advice he too left the room. After Fleur, it was Cedric, then it came to Harry's turn.

"Ah, Mr. Black please come this way." Going into the side room Harry found a little table with two chairs on each side. Sitting in the one closest to the door he waited for her to take her seat. "You do not mind if I use a quick quill now do you?" She obviously had not expected any problem as she had gotten the little thing out right away.

"Yes." She seemed startled for a moment, then sent a questioning look. "I do indeed mind if you use a quick quill."

"Now come, Ha-"

"Mr. Black." While Harry did not read the Daily Prophet, he knew enough not to let Rita Skeeter have control of the interview, and to let her have a close familiarity with him.

"I… Alright then." She quickly out the spelled quill away and took out a standard one. "So, Mr. Black, how are you feeling about the Tournament? Are you excited? As I understand it you were chosen only after Henry's name came out as well. How do you feel about that?"

"I am excited in my chance to represent my school in the tournament." Skeeter seemed to be waiting for Harry to continue after a moment, she prodded him a little more.

"And, what about Henry? Your opinion? How do you feel that you have to face the-Boy-Who-Lived?"

"I have no opinion about Henry Potter, and know little of his skills. Now, excuse me, but I must be off to my classes. If you have any additional questions please speak with Highmaster Kirillovich to arrange possible future meetings." Harry quickly got up and left the room. He would not be caught speculating about Potter, it would do know good, and just cause gossip. Harry proceeded down to the ship to continue his training.


	6. Chapter 6 Fighting Dragons

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter. Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated.

Thus the days passed, and November 24 had arrived. Classes had been cancelled for the day, as well as the next. Giving the students a four day weekend. At around half ten the champions were led to the quidditch pitch. Once inside a nearby tent they were greeted by Mr. Bagman, the happy idiot as Harry began to think of him.

"Morning! Great day for this I must say, smashing really! Alright, let us get on with it. Today I am excited to say you will be dealing with Dragons!" Harry's head shot up. Dragons. Merlin, this was going to be different. Looking around Harry noticed that both the Beauxbatons and Hogwarts champions were not surprised. So much for not knowing ahead of time. Oh well. "Now each pair will have to handle their dragon while they grab one of these." Bagman grabbed a large golden egg. Great, they had to steal an egg from a dragon, literally one of the most dangerous actions in the world. "Now you will be marked by each judge, time will be a factor, overall idea, amount of other eggs destroyed, and amount of damage you take. So be careful, Any questions?" Be careful, wonderful advice. Harry really wondered how this man could be a ministry employee. If he was an example of the men in control of British ministry it was a wonder it hadn't fallen in on itself. "No? Alright ladies first Ms. Delacour." The Beauxbatons girl pulled a little charmed statue of an Antipodean Opaleye, the bag shifted to the Hogwarts group who pulled a Hungarian Horntail. Last the bag was moved to Harry, who pulled out an Ukrainian Ironbelly. "Oh, good. You will have a few minutes to plan, I will call your groups out when it's your turn. Best of Luck! And, Henry might I have word?" As Bagman spoke to Potter, Harry and Viktor quickly conversed. Eventually they reached a plan that worked to both their skills, Harry's knowledge of random spells and Viktor's transfiguration. Turning to look at the others, Harry saw Bagman had left and everyone was getting ready.

Bagman's voice boomed from the outside thanking everyone for coming and briefly explaining the task. Soon Bagman called out the Beauxbatons Champions. The roar of applause indicated more than just the Hogwarts students were in attendance. Then a large gong sounded and the task began. From Bagman's description it sounded as if the two had attempted to charm the dragon, which seemed to work until right near the end when the dragon broke the enchantment. So after it was Henry and Diggory. They seemed to try and distract the dragon, while the other flew to the egg. Harry shook his head, bad idea; dragons were creatures that thrived in the air, by flying around it you were basically challenging it. Still it seemed to work.

"And, last but not least, we give you the Durmstrang Champions: Viktor Krum and Hadrian Black!" As Harry and Viktor walked out they saw the beast. It was chained to its side of the arena, slightly helping their plan. The two moved together up into the arena a bit. The gong rang, and Harry blocked everything else out. They were still far enough away that the dragon had not advanced away from the nest. Harry began his incantation. He had been lucky that this was a spell that Professor Selwyn had taught him before leaving Durmstrang. Pointing at the ground before him the rock started to melt, and in its place molten lava started to form. When the pool started to get big enough he shot the lava up and out towards the dragon. The Dragon thinking a large beast was attacked raised up to present its size. The lava collided with it, pushing it back to arena wall. During this Viktor ran forward keeping in range of the beast. Once it hit the wall he began to transfigure the lava in solid tungsten,. As more lava piled up he started to transfigure chains and wrap them about the beast and tie it to the wall.

The spell Harry was casting was very taxing, but he knew that Viktor's transfiguration was just as hard. The nature of the lava made the transfiguration easier, but tungsten was still one of the hardest metals to transfigure, couple that with being in range of a dragon and you had a very hard job. Ths shakes were the first sign that Harry was nearing his limit, but he persisted. Viktor was now chaining the head to look away from them. Soon the dizziness came and Harry started to lose control. He quickly stopped sending the molten rock at the beast and started to slow the spell down and dissipate the heat. Eventually that proved to much and Harry dropped to his knees.

As the dizziness receded Harry looked up: the Dragon was encased against the side of the arena, Viktor had the egg and was walking towards him. Soon sound came back to him and Harry heard the applause. Bagman was shouting about the the pure strength of the Durmstrang champions. Viktor reached Harry and pulled him up. Soon several aurors and dragonkeepers were there shepherding them out of the arena and into a tent.

Inside were the other champions and a few medical personnel. One lady was going on about dementors and dragons, which seemed odd. Not the dragons part, but Harry had no idea what she meant by dementors. When she made her away over to the two she seemed surprise that the only thing wrong with them was magical exhaustion.

"Rest. Tonight and tomorrow, and no major magic." Looking around Harry noticed that Fleur was looking decent, a few singed hairs, her partner had some wicked burns on his back. Cedric had some burns, and Henry looked like he took some heat but better than Diggory or Jacques. After about half an hour they were called out for their scores. Bagman started announcing once again.

"And, now ladies and gentlemen for the scores. For Beauxbatons who used a sleeping charm to put the dragon to sleep, which ultimately wore off as they almost had the egg we award:" Turning to the other judges each shot a number out of their wands; Maxime an 8, Crouch a 6, Dumbledore a 7, Bagman 7, and Kirillovich an 7. "35 out of 50! Now onto Hogwarts, who had Diggory distract with wolf transfigurations while Potter grabbed the egg. Which ultimately worked, but some eggs were destroyed and both took some heat, we give:" Maxime an 8, Crouch 7, Dumbledore 8, Bagman 9, Kirillovich 7, "39 of of 50, and lastly to Durmstrang which used transfiguration and umm… lava to subdue the dragon, which worked, but some eggs were destroyed by some of the lava we give:" Maxime 8, Crouch 9, Dumbledore 9, Bagman 8, Kirillovich 9, "43 out of 50! So Durmstrang leads, followed by Hogwarts, and lastly Beauxbatons. Our second task will take place in February, and champions the eggs are your hints!" With that the champions moved off. Each was soon descended upon by their families. Aunt Dorea engulfed Harry and they made their way off to somewhere quieter. She was pleased with his performance, not so much due to the his skills, but more so the strategy as it had kept him out of range of the dragon.

Harry eventually told her what had occurred between himself and Sirius. She clucked her tongue in annoyance, but said he did well, though the comments about squibs could come back to haunt them. Overall, he should not worry about it. Eventually it was time for supper so Dorea took her leave and Harry made his to the castle.

Arriving, Harry noticed he was one of the last. Soon as one of the Durmstrang students saw him the applause started. Harry quickly dashed over to the slytherin table and sat with Draco and Daphne. Klaus was near enough that Harry quickly asked him what was that for.

"Ah don't worry, we gave Viktor applause, too. It is for showing everyone that Durmstrang is the greatest." Harry nodded, if Viktor had applause as well then he wasn't being singled out which was good.

"Harry what spell did you cast? I have never seen anything like it." Daphne asked shifting Harry's attention.

"Oh, it is the _Narya iz Anor_. It is a spell that I learned at the beginning of this year, before we came to Hogwarts. It allows the making and control of fire, heat, and other related things, like the lava. It is probably one of the most complex spells I have learned."

"Were you repeatedly casting it? It looked like you were speaking the entire time." Draco decided to join in.

"Sort of. The spell is almost like a ritual: the incantation is long, and then there is a portion you repeat until the spell ends."

"Quite the spell. Do all fourth year Durmstrang students know such spells?"

"Ah, no. I don't think it is part of any of the curriculums actually. Professor Selwyn has me working on a modified program. Some spells are just ones he knows of and has taught me. That one was a real pain to learn, too. I spent nearly 5 full days worth of study throughout the first two months solely working on it." Both Draco and Daphne were looking at Harry oddly with that statement, so he quickly changed the topic. He started asking Daphne about her family. This seemed to draw Daphne in, but Draco settled back with an odd smirk on his face.

The rest of the meal was good. Harry spent most of talking to Daphne with the odd comments to the others around him. Eventually Dumbledore stood and addressed the crowd, "Good evening. I would like to first wish congratulations for all the champions on a splendid performance this afternoon. Few witches or wizards could have done what you all did, and you should be proud of your accomplishments." Dumbledore raised his goblet, which soon the whole hall mirrored, "Now two further announcements. The first is on sunday there will be a dueling competition. Anyone may enter, as there will be three brackets; One for the first and second years, the second for the third, fourth, and fifth years, followed by the sixth and seventh years in theirs. If you are not planning to compete you may spectate as there will be food and drinks throughout the event. Also, the winner of each bracket will receive a prize chosen by Professors Flitwick and Selwyn. Again, my congratulations to the champions!"


	7. Chapter 7 The Dueling Competition

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Harry Potter Universe. Thank you for reading, and reviews are appreciated.

The next two days were not lax for Harry. For most people it would have been spent relaxing, especially after fighting a dragon, but Harry spent most of Friday and part of Saturday training. He knew that his showing in the First Task had shocked the students of the other two schools, but it also spurned on his own classmates.

However, the Saturday did take an unexpected venture. Around ten that morning Harry was outside training like the other Durmstrang students under their professor's eyes. He had been practicing against Klaus when suddenly the other boy stopped. Harry slightly lowered his guard, thinking maybe this was some new trick of Klaus', but the boy nodded to behind Harry. Turning Harry found Daphne looking at him.

"Ah, morning Daphne. What brings you down here?"

"This is a Hogsmeade weekend." At the confused look Harry gave her she explained, "On certain weekends students of third year or higher are allowed to go to the village for the weekend."

"Oh, well have a good trip?" Harry's response caused Daphne to frown slightly. He felt that he was missing something, until Viktor walked over and pushed him forward to Daphne.

In his very accented English he said, "Make sure he is back by three." Daphne smiled grabbed his arm and led him toward the carriages. Looking back over his shoulder Harry saw Klaus, Viktor, and a few others including Professor Selwyn laughing and shaking their heads. As they reached the carriages Harry saw many of the Hogwarts and Beauxbatons students there as well, but he and Daphne took their own into the village. They ended up going to the pub for a bit, and then wandering the village. Overall the day was good and the two discussed almost anything and everything. Harry felt quite at peace during the excursion until the pair ran into Henry Potter and his friends. Potter was with R-something and Hermione. They seemed to be in a bit of an argument until they noticed Harry with Daphne.

"Oh look its the Dark Lord with his Dark Lady." R-something really did need to work on his insults. Daphne did not look impressed either. The two shared a look and then continued walking past the trio. Harry could hear Hermione rebuking the redhead, but that did not seem to stop the boy. "Hey! What to good to talk to me! Stuck up Prat and Bitch!"

Now that stopped Harry, to insult him, well he wouldn't accept it, but he could tolerate it. Insult someone else? Especially his friend? Now that was a quick way to rouse Harry's anger. Couple that with the source being Henry Potter and his friend. Well that was like pouring petrol on a fire. But, luckily for Harry as much as the idiot gryffindors, Daphne was there.

She grabbed his hand and forced him to look at her. "Ignore them. Their opinions do not matter, Let's go." Harry moved to argue, but she quickly pulled him away. Harry thought he heard the two boys laughing for a second before hearing Hermione lay into them. That brought a brief smile to his lips and soon he had forgotten his anger.

As Daphne and Harry walked around, they moved into discussing classes. Harry confided that he was having quite a hard time with his potions work, and that he was slipping quite a bit. He had relied on Professor Draganov at Durmstrang and while Professor Snape seemed competent enough, something about the man's interactions with Harry unnerved him. It was like he was studying Harry, and that made him very nervous. Relating this to Daphne caused her to laugh and she thought he was being ridiculous, but offered to tutor him if he would teach her dueling and defense. Harry quickly agreed, not only to help his poor potions work, but to also spend more time with Daphne.

Soon enough the duo made their way back to the castle, where Harry rejoined his schoolmates. Professor Selwyn soon partnered Harry with Reinhard, the second best duelist at Durmstrang. When Harry asked why, Selwyn remarked how since Harry had spent the morning and early afternoon not practicing he needed to catch up. The next several hours were torture with Harry trying to hold Reinhard back for longer each time. Eventually practice was halted and everyone made their way to dinner.

The next morning saw the Highmaster and Professors Albu and Selwyn all checking everyone's dueling skills. Everyone needed to be in top form, not to win necessarily, but to show that Durmstrang was strong. To lose was acceptable if it was to someone stronger or more skilled, to lose to someone worse than you, well that was disgraceful. So everyone was grilled, Durmstrang had its martial reputation to uphold.

Lunch was held on the ship, and the Highmaster began going over the rules, expectations, and other concerns for the evening. It was fairly standard and slightly boring. Eventually after everyone was given the afternoon off. Some decided to have a quick quidditch game, others did some homework, and a few simply wandered. Harry decided to do some homework, and looked at his rituals book. He had read the introduction and the first chapter so far, which seemed to talk about the nature of magic, and how the spells that most thought of as magic were only the surface. They were poor constructs placed on magic to make it easier for people to understand, but that magic in of itself was often something far beyond our understanding. The closest most came to wielding magic in its truest form was accidental magic as children. Accidental magic required no wand movements or words, but relied on pure intent. Rituals were a combination of the two, while it often required elaborate conditions such as a certain time or place they also able to do much more complex things than most spells.

The next chapter began to discuss the basics of early Roman rituals. They tended to involve a sacrifice of some sort, often a bull or other animal. One ritual it discussed involved killing a white bull and eating either its heart or another organ to gain some foresight into the future. Overall the text so far was a combination of straightforward explanations and the confusing abstracts on some of the finer points of the nature of magic and the world.

At around 4 everyone headed up to the castle. The Great Hall had once again rearranged for dueling, this time there were three large platforms in the center with many smaller tables around the edge of the room. The smaller tables all held snacks and other finger foods. Upon entering Harry saw that Beauxbatons had already arrived. All the Professors from the schools present and, from the looks of it all the students as well. Professor Selwyn led everyone over to Professor Flitwick, who was registering everyone. The small professor seemed slightly shocked that all of the Durmstrang students were entering, but smiled and signed everyone up.

Once registration was complete, Selwyn and Flitwick both proceeded to the center stage and grabbed everyone's attention. "Welcome, welcome!" Professor Flitwick's high pitch called out, "Thank you all for coming. We will be starting right away, now we will be holding all three brackets at the same time, except for the final matches, those will be held one at a time, to allow everyone to watch. Now," a quick swish of his want and above him appeared the duel schedule appeared above him, "here is the initial rounds that will be occurring. For the first and second years will be competing on stage closest to the doors, followed by the third, fourth, and fifth years in the center, and the sixth and seventh at the back of the room. I will be judging the the first bracket, Professor Dumbledore the second, and Professor Selwyn the third. For the finals all three will be judging. Any questions? Excellent off you go to your areas!"

Harry looked up and quickly found his name, he was fighting a Beauxbaton student who was fairly decent, but still not his skill level. Scanning the list he found that both Potter and Weasley had entered. Henry was facing Havel, and Weasley ended up fighting Marcsa. That would be entertaining. Looking at who he could be facing after it would either be Adriaan or Draco. That could be fun either way.

Eventually Dumbledore made his way over and got the first contestants ready. The first several matches were made up of mostly Hogwarts students, whom Harry did not know. He did see Draco's friends Goyle and Crabbe both get knocked out fighting a Susan Bones and another Beauxbatons student. Eventually it came to Henry versus Havel. The match, was interesting; Harry would never have guessed that Henry was that skilled. In the few he had watched during the practices Henry had been good, but it seemed had been holding back. Potter did a nice sequence coming out of a spin that Harry knew was an advanced auror technique, which meant that either Sirius or Henry's father had trained the boy. Havel did well, but was knocked unconscious after about a minute. Upon being woken Havel looked upset, being the first Durmstrang in their year knocked out, but Harry complimented him and his skills. He saw no reason that Havel had let down the school.

Next match was Marcsa versus Weasley. Just as they got up the boy made a mistake, he insulted Marcsa again. "Oh look its the wannabe dark lord, oh sorry lady." Marcsa had picked up enough English to know what he was saying and you could see her anger. The match was called and Marcsa began her attack. She was on the warpath as she opened up with some family spells. Unlike the standard spells taught at the European schools, these were in her native Hungarian, which made it harder to know what was being casted. The poor boy was soon blasted off his feet, with his wand summoned to Marcsa's hand.

She strode forward to the boy and in a cold tone spoke, "You Englist know little of fighting Dark Lords, while you British waited and watched, we fought tooth and nail against Grindelwald. You think your little terrorist is a dark lord? Your little dark lord never even expanded outside of Britain, Grindelwald and his army conquered half of Europe. Do not speak of dark lords to us." With that she threw his wand at him and made her way down.

The next set of matches was not overly interesting. Harry's own was not anything to speak of, and while his opponent was what he expected, skilled, but not trained to the same degree as Harry was. Adriaan was beaten by Draco, which was not to surprising, Adriaan being an average duelist. Surprisingly few fifth year Hogwarts and Beauxbatons had signed up, with there only being four fifth year matches, which Durmstrang won three of, and a Ravenclaw by the name Cho Chang the other. Eventually the second rounds began and more third years were beat out as they started fighting fourth years, all but one of the third year Durmstrangs were knocked out, but two beauxbatons and a gryffindor girl moved on. Susan Bones did well again, and Harry could tell she had received some expert training as well, maybe she was related to the Madam Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Henry again showed quite some skill fighting Marcsa. Marcsa had started off using her family magic like her last match, but Henry was ready and started using an unique shield spell. The spell looked slightly familiar to Harry, like one of the Black family spells, but it seemed to add some extra protection to the ground beneath Potter as well. Potter then used a curse that Harry had never seen before that seemed to cut right through Marcsa's own shield and blast her back. The match was called in Henry's favour. That left Harry as the last Durmstrang student for his year.

Soon it was Harry and Draco's turn. Both stepped up and bowed. As soon as they were up Draco started casting. Harry was pleasantly surprised, this could be more fun than he thought. Draco had always shown some private tutoring in dueling and the spells he was using right now were not standard spells as well. Harry quickly started into some of the more advanced chains he learned at the end of last year. One chain in particular held not one, but two nasty surprises. Inside the chain were two jinxes that were particularly hard to notice and generally went through most shields. Luckily Draco did not seem to notice them and was caught. One caused all the muscles in the extremities to tense up thus causing his arms to jerk up and his legs to crumple underneath. The second was a sort of body bind but was harder to break but lasted for a shorter time. The match was called for Harry, who quickly cancelled the spells.

After getting off the platform Draco made his way to Harry and asked about the chain. Harry explained the two hidden spells and explained that it had taken him near two months to get that single chain down, not including the time spent learning the individual spells which amounted to another three months.

For the third round the the last of the third years were beaten out, Susan Bones took the last Durmstrang third year. Potter beat out a ravenclaw fourth year by the name of Goldstein and Harry took out the last Beauxbaton fourth year. Eventually it came down to the semifinals where it was Susan versus Henry, and Harry versus Anton, the last fifth year Durmstrang.

The Potter-Bones match was good. Both were fairly matched in skill and were trained similarly. They both were using auror moves and counters with the match staying a stalemate for a while. Eventually you could see Bones starting to sweat and her spells were weakening. The match had only been going on for a couple of minutes, but duels were very taxing on the body and magic. Most were quick and lasted only a minute or so. That Henry was still going showed he had a large well of magic to draw on. Eventually Susan's tiredness caught up with her and she was to slow to dodge a disarm at the end of a chain Potter sent.

Harry's match with Anton was more standard, both had dueled often and Harry had little doubt he would win. He knew Anton typically fought defensively so Harry had to draw him out. He did this by faking a slip which could backfire and cause Harry to lose control of the duel if Anton did not take the bait. Luckily enough Anton did and switched to offensive, and Harry was able to sneak a stunner at him.

So the final would come down to Henry against Harry, Potter versus Black. Harry was actually looking forward to it, It was almost like a chance to show them they were… no such thoughts were better left alone.

Once the other brackets were finished, Dumbledore had everyone move to the sides of the room and then transfigured the three platforms into one at the center. First up was the final for the first bracket where it was two Beauxbaton students facing off against each other. Both were good, but the duel was not as captivating due to the low spell repertoire. Daphne had made her way to Harry's side where she had informed him that Astoria, her sister, had made it to the semifinals and had been beaten by the winner of the bracket Daphne had decided to forgo competing and had cheered her sister on. Next it was Harry's turn. He had thought about his strategy. Henry seemed to favour power over finesse in his spells, and his chains tended to reflect that. Harry would distract him and try to get something through that way.

Making his way up to the platform he came face to face with Henry, both bowed and then straightened. Henry opened much like Draco, right of the bow. Harry quickly transfigured a thick wall between the two to get his distraction ready. This was one of the nastier charms that were taught at Durmstrang, the _Moraka_ charm. It basically simulated the effects of a dementor, and caused most people to become distracted. Harry saw the wall start to crack, and began the spell. It worked well, just as Henry broke through the wall the charm was away. Henry didn't notice until too late and it landed at his feet. The charm affected a region large enough so that Potter would be caught in its effects unless he moved towards Harry, which was a bad idea in dueling. The Highmaster and other professors having seen what spell Harry was preparing soon cast patronus for those gathered around Potter's end of the platform.

Henry quickly cast the family shield, but when that did not work he seemed to become around Henry noticed the patronii and smiled. Harry slightly faltered, why was the boy smiling, he should be experiencing his worst memories. Then Henry yelled, "Expecto Patronum!" A silvery deer erupted. The deer was obviously a male, but its antlers were smaller, indicating that it had yet to reach maturity.

Well this was a shock: Henry knew how to cast a corporeal patronus. Harry didn't even know how. Well, Harry was going to have change plans. Henry's smirked continued and he started in on an attack. Harry quickly blocked or dodged them, but soon moved to the offensive. He tried the chain that took Draco down, but that failed. Henry's family shield blocked them all. Harry was forced back to the defensive. He needed to think of something. Taking note of the surroundings Harry came up with an idea. He started off one his more stronger and dangerous chains, however this one had a summoning worked into it. Harry thought the shield most likely stopped summonings in the immediate area around Potter, but would extend to the back of the hall? He summoned of the tables that was behind Henry against the wall. It zoomed directly towards Harry, and Henry just happened to be between the two. The curses of the chain kept Henry focus in front of him, so he was unprepared when he was suddenly hit from behind by the table. Causing his concentration to break, his shield fell and Harry stepped in quickly with a blasting curse. It hit Potter as he was being pulled towards Harry and knocked him out.

Harry had won. Turning he found the Durmstrang students cheering, the Hogwarts and Beauxbatons students were looking surprised. Turning to the professors, he saw the Highmaster and Selwyn smile and nod, but noticed that the Hogwarts teachers were looking at him slightly worried and scared? Dumbledore seemed particularly intent on him, even with his face carefully neutral.

Moving off the stage Harry looked up to see Fleur Delacour and Illyana make their way up. This meant that Hogwarts would not win any of the brackets, and that either Durmstrang or Beauxbatons would be the overall winner of the tournament.

The duel was one of the best that Harry had seen, both barely moved to dodge the curses of the other, they both were using silent casting and both were only using offensive spells. It was rare to see Illyana so well matched, the few times Harry had dueled her she would wipe the floor with him immediately. Lots of Fleur's spells tended to include fire and she was slowly laying flames around Illyana to box her in. Harry had seen Reinhard attempt something similar once on Illyana, it had failed miserably, and Harry doubted it would do much better this time. Illyana finally unleashed her trap breaker. The spell was one that Harry had not yet learned, and wasn't even sure if it was part of the school's curriculum. It sent out a wide shock wave of pure magic which quickly destroyed any constructs or magical created effects. As the wave progressed along the platform Fleur tried casting spells to halt it. They just broke against it until the way reached her and flung her back against the Hall's wall.

Once Fleur had been revived, the three champions made their way up to the front. They were congratulated by each of the judges and were gifted a set of dueling robes. Each set was made from dragon skin and other magically resistant materials. Harry was shocked, he had been planning to buy a set and had been saving up for several years to do so, they were extremely expensive. Once the ceremony was over everyone headed back down to the ship. The Highmaster addressed everyone, and said he was please with their efforts and had represented Durmstrang well. He offered congratulations to Harry and Illyana and dismissed everyone for the evening. Harry wrote a letter to his aunt and went to bed, being nearly exhausted from the day.


	8. Chapter 8 The Yule Ball

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the Harry Potter name, universe, characters, and so forth. Thank you for reading. Reviews are appreciated. Also, I have updated a few times since the 29th, yet the story does not show the correct update dates. The chapters I have added appeared for me, but if you can not see the some chapters let me know.

The next several weeks once again settled into a nice routine, Harry's morning was back to homework, afternoon working on the clue for the second task, and the evenings were spent with Daphne, either tutoring or just hanging out, playing a pickup game of quidditch, though the weather soon put an end to those, or practice dueling. The duelling club was still on, and Harry helped supervise that on Wednesday evenings. He had mostly taken over supervising the second years, where he got to work with Daphne's sister Astoria. Daphne would watch and help out becoming his unofficial assistant.

Most things were going well, potions was getting better thanks to Daphne, and Harry was now able to spend more time with his ritual book. It was getting more confusing, and Harry felt he was missing something while reading. He had moved on to the chapter discussing a couple of rituals, one was adopted by the Romans from another group and split a body of water allowing someone to walk between the parted portions. It sounded like something he had learned in the muggle world, but he could not remember where.

The only thing that was bothering him was the golden egg. He had been given his own after the first task and told it held a clue to the second, but on opening it all he heard was wailing. He tried as many interpretation spells he knew of, but none had worked. Harry was convinced that it was some kind of language as it fluctuated, but Harry had no idea of what language. Certainly not human.

However, his studies into the egg were put on hold after he was called to the Highmaster's cabin one afternoon. Upon entering he found Viktor there again. Great another meeting about the tournament.

"I am notifying you both that you will need to lead the opening dance during the Yule Ball that will ba taking place for the tournament." Viktor seemed to take the news in stride, but Harry was quite nervous. He could dance slightly, his aunt had made sure of it, but he was extremely nervous doing so. And...He just realized he would need to ask someone to the ball itself. The Highmaster mentioned some more things, but Harry paid little attention, he was far to concerned with who he would ask, and how. Soon he heard the Highmaster dismiss him and Viktor. Walking out he did not know what to do.

He eventually found himself sitting with Klaus, who had laughed at his nervousness. "Ah, the Raven is scared of asking a girl out? Why not ask that one you are around constantly. The Blonde." Harry had been thinking of asking Daphne, but how?

Several days passed, and he had yet to work up the courage. He knew that Klaus had ended up asking a Beauxbaton girl named Alice. Klaus had just walked up to the girl at lunch one day and asked. It had taken a bit for someone to translate for the girl, but she had smiled and agreed to accompany the him. Harry wished he had that courage. He had watched some of the other champions ask their dates as well. Fleur asked a ravenclaw boy, Viktor asked Potter's friend Hermione, which Harry was slightly shocked by, and Jacques had asked Marcsa.

Finally Harry worked up the nerve and approached Daphne after a dueling club session and asked.

"Hey Daphne?"

"Yes?"

"Umm...well...wouldyouliketogototheyuleballwithme?" Harry's nerves had caused him to spit the question out. Daphne had a confused look on her face, and when she realized what he asked she smiled.

"Of course we are going together. Why do you think no one has approached you? I made it quite clear to all that we were going together." This shocked Harry. How did she do that? But, it did not matter, no, she said yes and Harry was ecstatic.

Harry had written home to get his dress robes sent, and found Milsey had waiting for him the next day with said robes. She said she would make sure they were in proper condition for the ball and popped away.

The rest of december passed without incident. Harry had begun practicing a new chain that involved and powerful blasting curse, a body binder, two disarms, and a exploding charm that targeted the ground beneath someone. So far it was going alright, but the constant repetition of the chain to make sure it flowed nicely was taking some time. He had also started in on simple cross-species transfigurations, which while not terribly hard, but tedious in nature. One needed to be very careful, as much could go wrong. Lastly Harry had began to practice a new spell, _Melenchalad_ , which essentially casted lightning. Harry was only allowed to do so under the watch of either Professor Selwyn or Highmaster Kirillovich, and he was not allowed to show others. To practice it they had first secured permission from Professor Dumbledore and would practice in a huge classroom deep in the dungeons. So when the break began it was quite a welcome reprieve.

Said reprieve was not at first as relaxing as Harry had hoped, for the day of the ball, he became quite nervous. It took Klaus and Havel both to assure him that he would not trip and fall thus shaming Durmstrang, himself, and most worryingly Daphne. Milsey arrived and helped him get his robes on, and made sure no wrinkles were present. His robes were a black, with silver raven embroidery along the edges and down the center.

Making his way to the castle, he and the other champions waited outside the Great Hall. Soon the other champions dates arrived. Harry could tell that Henry was quite shocked when Hermione arrived and moved to Viktor's side. Marcsa looked radiant in a dark red dress and greeted Harry before moving to speak with Jacques. Eventually Daphne arrived and Harry was speechless. She was in black dress that had a pale blue lining that brought out her eyes and went well with Harry's own robes. As she approached she had an eyebrow raised asking the question.

"I-uh-you look, ah, great!" Viktor laughed and Marcsa's voice could be heard saying, "smooth" in her accented English. "Ah, sorry. You look stunning. Truly." Daphne had been smirking since he started, but at the end she seemed to give a truly pleased smile. Soon Professor McGonagall came out and organized the champions into two lines. Hogwarts first, as they were the host school, followed by Beauxbatons, and then Durmstrang. They would move to the middle of the room spread out in a line and bow to the judges. Once the judges bowed back they would the open the ball with a dance.

Harry looked over at Daphne, who smiled and whispered, "Don't worry so much. One would think you would rather face the dragon again." Harry chuckled and felt his nerves slightly relax.

The doors to the hall opened and it began. Following behind Jacques, Harry and Daphne moved gracefully. Harry knew not to hurry his movements due to his nerves, but to walk slowly, which was made easier with Daphne at his side. Soon the moved out to the side and stood next to Marcsa. The champions then bowed to the high table, where the professors bowed back.

Music then started and each couple started to move. Harry's nerves picked back up, but looking at Daphne and watching her smile, helped. Soon Aunt Dorea's training kicked in and Harry found his movements becoming more fluid. By the end of the song he was feeling much better.

At the end of the song, the Champions moved off and the dinner began. The champions were seated with the professors, and Harry found that he was sitting next to Mad-Eye Moody and Daphne had Professor Snape on her side.

"Ah, Black. Quite the dancer! Believe it or not, but before I lost my leg I could dance quite well. Never did though, to easy for someone to come up behind you!" This was going to be an interesting meal. Though Daphne seemed to be at ease with Snape.

"Ah, that so. My aunt made sure that I knew how from since I began living with her. Though it does help to have a smashing partner." At the last comment he gave Daphne's had a gentle squeeze. She smiled at the compliment. For the most part the meal was fine, Mad-Eye would occasionally ask about his training and what spells he knew. At the end Harry nearly had a heart attack as after one question from Moody about one of the chains he had used Snape had gotten involved when Moody had questioned about it being similar to one of Snape's. Snape had turned and look Harry in the eyes. At first the man stuttered and then answered. After he spoke to Harry.

"Very interesting eyes you have there Black. Peculiar shade of green. They remind me of an old schoolmate's. Who did you say your mother was?"

"Emily Rosier, sir."

"Hmm...I remember her. She was a few years younger, but nice enough. I believe she had brown eyes no? Regulus had grey eyes himself."

"Ah, she did. She always said I had inherited her aunt's eyes. Can't recall which."

"Hmm." Thankfully the man left it at that. Harry knew that he had inherited _her_ eyes, but he did not believe that she was friends with Snape. Soon after the meal ended and Harry decided to ask Daphne to another dance. After a few Daphne dragged him over to speak with Tracey and Blaise. Everyone complimented each other on their attire. Soon the four were laughing and joking around. They eventually moved out to the courtyard for some fresh air. Harry noticed Henry, Weasley, and Hermione further away. The three seemed to be arguing and as soon as Viktor appeared Hermione grabbed his hand and dragged him inside for a dance. Harry couldn't help but smile, it seemed the Weasley was not doing well with Viktor asking his friend to the ball.

Soon Harry found himself back dancing with Daphne, which they did for most of the remainder of the evening. As the night wound down he escorted Daphne back to the Slytherin dorms. Once at the entrance Harry decided he would push his bravery and leaned in to give her a kiss. Daphne leaned in as well and soon Harry's brain stopped working. All of his thoughts were consumed with the kiss, and it was soon over. Daphne soon leaned back, smirked and then entered the Slytherin rooms. Harry was left there standing for several moments. Once his mind caught back up a grin formed on his face and Harry made his way back to the ship.


	9. Chapter 9 Splitting the Sea

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter. Reviews are appreciated and thank you for reading.

The rest of the holidays were spent with Daphne and other friends. With the Yule Ball behind him Harry found the holidays very relaxing. He and Daphne had become a couple, without Harry ever really having thought about it. When he questioned her, it was much like when he asked her to the ball. She had said, "Of course we are dating. Don't worry dear." Klaus had laughed quite a bit at that. But alas the break came to an end. And, Harry found his schedule back in place. Except this time he devoted more time to studying and homework, more time with Daphne, and more time working on the egg.

The increase workload would have most students going mad, but Harry had long since learned how to manage multiple tasks and time wisely. A trait he had to picked up from the Dursleys. The extra time with the egg had started to mix with his extra time with Daphne, and that was how he, or rather she, broke the clue. They had been sitting next to shore of the Black Lake after another failed attempt to interpret the egg.

As Harry opened it again, Daphne in desperation to save her ears from the agony of its call had taken the egg and thrown it on the ice nearby. Said ice not being nearly thick enough to support the weight of a golden egg the size of a small dog broke from the weight, and the egg sunk down. It was only a couple feet out so Harry cast a little blasting curse to break the ice in between and waded to get it. As he neared he expected to hear the high pitch screams again, but instead he heard soft murmuring. Leaning down he brought the egg out of the wonder to hear the shrieking again. Quickly he dropped the egg and it stopped. Deciding to see if the water was just muffling it he dunked his head under the water. To his utter surprise it was a sweet soft voice.

It was mermish! It was unintelligible above water because mermen could not speak out of water! Quickly grabbing the egg and closing it he ran to Daphne and gave her a kiss as thanks. She sputtered confusedly, but was glad that he was happy. Since that day Harry had begun his research into underwater spells. From the message Harry deduced he would need to retrieve something from the Merfolk and Daphne had told him that a tribe lived in Black Lake. So he needed someway to get down to the bottom of the lake. He had so far considered bubblehead charm and self-transfiguration. Self-transfiguration was much beyond his skills in transfiguration and bubblehead was not to ideal as it made it harder to see and if it popped he would be out of luck.

So for a month Harry tried to find something else. So far he kept running into issues, either it was beyond his skill or had some weakness that as outside Harry's comfort level. Eventually it was his ritual's book that provided the answer. He had been rereading an earlier chapter where it mentioned, and thankfully described, the water splitting ritual. This ritual did not require any great sacrifice or had to be at a particular time or day. It did require some blood from the caster and some kind of staff referred to as a serpent staff. That last bit had thrown Harry, what was a serpent staff? He had asked Daphne, Klaus, and others if they had heard of it, but none had. He was barred from asking the Professors, as it dealt with the Tournament, so Harry was stuck searching the Hogwarts library.

And, that was where he found himself on this Monday evening. He had asked the Hogwarts Librarian about any references to serpent staves or splitting water. She had given him a few books, but so far nothing was making sense.

"Reading about Moses and the crossing of the Red Sea?" Harry was started out of his thoughts by none other than Henry's friend Hermione.

"Excuse me?"

"That picture it is of Moses and the Jews fleeing Egypt no?" She was pointing at a picture from an art textbook, so far the only thing that had somewhat connected to Harry's search.

"Moses? Is that the wizard here?"

"Wizard? Umm...maybe, he is a major figure in Judaism and Christianity. He split the Red Sea and led the slaves to Israel." That sounded familiar to Harry, something he had forgotten since coming to live with his aunt.

"Huh. If he was a wizard this staff he used would have been a wand substitute."

"Perhaps. If I remember according to the bible it was a gift from God, who transformed it from a snake. I think that was it, though I haven't read it for a while." Could it truly be that simple? A staff transfigured from a serpent? Harry would need to test that out. "Are you doing a paper about possible wizards in muggle history?"

"Oh, ya. For my history course. Thanks!" Harry quickly grabbed his things and left. He started going over where he could test the ritual. He needed a body of water, something isolated so none could see his idea. He still had about a month till the second task, but it was best to test the ritual, maybe the text forgot some portion.

Later that night Harry snuck out of the ship and made his way towards a little closed off portion of the lake. Making sure no one was around Harry quickly cast _Serpensortia_ , summoning a simple garden snake. Transfiguring it into a staff Harry got ready. Cutting his palm, Harry smeared his blood down the length of the staff. Reciting the incantation, raising the staff to the sky, and the plunging it into the ground beneath the water. Suddenly a blast of wind came forth and started pushing the water apart. Quickly a little path had formed leading from one end of the shore to the had directed the staff and ritual to cut off only a small portion parallel to the beach. Pulling the staff from the ground Harry went to walk through, but as soon as he did the wind disappeared and the water reconnected. The ritual must require the staff to remain still. Hmm...the test had been successful so far he would test it further tomorrow night.

With Harry's second task idea confirmed his work load became easier. He would sneak out to practice at night on the ritual, for an hour or so, and thus was free to spend more time on his regular studies in the afternoon and evenings with Daphne.

It all settled nicely. Until the morning of the Second Task. He was supposed to meet Daphne for breakfast, but she never arrived. Speaking with Tracey, she mentioned the Daphne had to meet with Professor Snape that morning for some reason and had yet to return. Harry hoped her meeting would be done soon, he really wanted her to see the ritual as he had not told her his plan and they had discussed rituals often. Well, soon his concerns were pushed aside as he and the other champions were called down to the lake.

Once arriving Harry and the others found a couple of tents and large stands for spectators. The champions were shepherded into one of the tents where they met with the cheery Mr. Bagman once again. Harry barely caught himself from sighing at the sight of the man.

"Ah morning, morning. Lovely day is it not? So I hope you figured out the task yes?"

"We are to retrieve something stolen at the bottom of the lake?" It was Jacques lightly accented voice that answered, steady and calm.

"Ah not something. Someone!" Someone? They put people down there? Wait who? These questions flashed before Harry's eyes the moment Bagman uttered the word. And, from the looks of it similar ones went through the others' thoughts as well. "You are each tasked with retrieving the person you would miss the most. Mr. Diggory, Ms. Cho Chang; Mr. Potter, a Mr. Weasley; Ms. Delacour and Mr. des Cartes your sisters; Mr. Krum, Mrs. Granger; and Mr. Black, Ms. Greengrass." The whole time the man was smiling like he was talking about the weather. Harry's nerves spiked, they put people under the lake, in the hands of merfolk? What could these people be thinking? Harry quickly shook his head. It did not matter. Bagman soon left the champions to speak to the crowd.

"You do know we are going under the water, Raven?" Viktor slightly startled Harry. Following the older student's look Harry saw he was referring to his broom that he brought. The other champions also seemed to be considering what he was planning with it.

"Yes, thanks Viktor, I am aware." The others shook their head, with Henry even muttering to himself about fools, and house-elves? No, Harry must have misheard. It did not matter, Bagman was calling them out.

"Give a grand welcome to our champions! Now each has an hour for to retrieve their hostage, and they will be graded on choice of spell and its effectiveness. On the signal you may begin." Boom! That must have been the signal. Harry looked and watched the others, Viktor a partial shark transfiguration, very advance; Diggory and Delacour both used the bubblehead; Jacques used some spell that Harry saw no obvious effect but dived in; and Henry had some plant which seemed to partially transfigure him into some fish thing. Harry quickly cast a spell to point to his desire. This hopefully would point him towards Daphne, but was unsure. The wand ended up pointing out to the lake so it hopefully worked.

Now to summon a snake, casting _Serpensortia_ Harry summoned a western taipan, a very quick and deadly snake. Harry chose this snake as the more dangerous snake the stronger the ritual, and he did not wish to risk bringing a magical snake into such a crowded area. Quickly transfiguring it he moved to the edge of the water.

Harry could hear Bagman puzzling about his actions to the crowd, when he began the ritual. He cut his hand, smeared his blood, recited the ritual and struck the ground. For a second nothing happened, and Harry became worried that he had made a mistake, and then suddenly the winds came. They were stronger this time than his last attempt, perhaps his need and intent help fuel it. Either way a giant amount of winds came and started pushing the water apart. Within a minute it had done its job and Harry could see down the length of the lake. And, low and behold there tied to a pole of some sort were the hostages. They had been kept in spot being tied to the post, but all the merfolk had been pushed with the water and were held back by the wind.

Grabbing his broom Harry flew down. Quickly freeing Daphne, Harry pulled her onto the broom and flew back. Safely landing, Harry made sure Daphne was fine, she seemed to be in some magical trance, but was breathing, so it must have been placed by the teachers. His inspection complete Harry moved over to the staff and pulled it from the ground. Suddenly the ritual ended and Harry became extremely exhausted. The magical drain of this ritual did not occur until it ended, which while different from normal casting was not uncommon in rituals. The problem here was Harry's exhaustion caused his transfiguration on the serpent to end and he soon found himself holding a western taipan. An angry, scared western taipan. The snake moved with lethal speed and Harry found himself bitten and suddenly losing consciousness. Harry thought he heard someone yelling and felt the snake let go of him, but that was it before darkness claimed him.

Awareness seemed to come back slowly and the first thing that Harry could process was older female voice.

"Dementors, Dragons, and now purposefully putting children underwater! Why do I keep working here! I swear that we never had anything as stupid and ridiculous as this when I was a child!"

"Mmmm." Harry couldn't help, but make a noise as he tried to sit up and open his eyes. Upon his eyes opening Harry was soon greeted with the owner of the previous voice and found it to be the Hogwarts nurse.

"You Mr. Black are a lucky man! Thankfully that snake was not able to poison you too much before they dispelled it, but you will be sore. Now drink this." Suddenly a dark brown/blue potion was handed to him. Looking at it made Harry reconsider and as he looked to tell the nurse he was fine, Harry was met with a stern glare that said he would not be getting out without drinking it. Weighing his options Harry quickly drank the vial and found the nurse moving off to some other patient.

Looking around Harry found that some of the hostages were here, and Fleur, who had looked better. On noticing her gaze, she responded,"Grindylows." Shite, while Grindylows were not a threat individually a school of them could, and had, kill a wizard or witch. Harry's survey of the room soon ended as Daphne stormed in looked at him and slapped him. Gaping, Harry had no idea what he had done to deserve that.

"That is for me waking up to the sight of you being bitten by a venomous snake!" Suddenly she leaned in and gave him a mind breaking kiss, "And, that, well that is for saving me." Then the girl had the nerve to give Harry a giant smile. By Merlin, Harry had no idea what was going on. "Oh by the way you scored points. You lost a bit for almost dying at the end."

"I, ah, uh… who came in first?" That should be a safe question.

"Actually it was Potter with 45, then des Cartes and you at 41, Krum at 40, then Diggory at 39, and then Fleur at 35. It seems your spell knocked Diggory off course and that put him far behind the others."

"Huh, so I am tied with Potter for first?"

"Yep, interesting no? The two youngest in the lead? He got extra points for being second to the hostages and returning with not only his hostage, but Fleur's as well when she did not arrive. But, come one you need to tell me about the ritual!" Harry had to smile at the girl's curiosity and soon followed her out and back to the castle.


	10. Chapter 10 Meeting with the Potters

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Harry Potter Name, universe, or franchise. Thanks for reading, reviews are appreciated. I do try to respond to reviews with private messages either to answer questions or explain something.

Harry later found out that they would be told about the third and final task at a later date and for now to focus on his studies. So, that is what Harry did, and his time dueling and with Daphne, though his focus was generally in the opposite order. After the second task it seems Harry's reputation had been solidified for the other schools. He had not only controlled lava in the first task, but now he had split Black Lake in half, and it had not taken long for Harry to start hearing mutterings of "the Raven" or "le Corbeau" from the other two schools. Harry had been confused on how so suddenly the students knew his nickname until Daphne had told Draco had spread it and the meaning after the second task. Harry was annoyed, but he figured his cousin felt he was helping Harry out so Harry left it alone.

This sudden increase in attention had some drawbacks: first, the constant whispers were quite annoying and it made it hard to spend time alone with Daphne; and secondly it drew attention and confrontation with some of the more egotistical students. The Durmstrang students treated Harry much the same; they had known about his skills, and while rituals were only taken by a small minority of the student body, it was not unheard of and they had seen them used from time to time. The other schools did not appear to have a similar familiarity with it, and was much more shocking. Even the slytherins seemed quite impressed, even though he knew many of the older families had their own ancestral rituals.

The run ins with other students trying to prove themselves was beginning to become slightly annoying. He had already faced a couple of Hogwarts students, a Slytherin and Gryffindor oddly enough, and a Beauxbaton student. Harry would normally have just walked away, but he knew he was representing his school, and if he backed down it would reflect badly on it. So, he had met each challenge and beaten his opponents. The Gryffindor was thankfully just a fifth year who was easily beaten. The Slytherin, while being a seventh year, was not overly strong. The boy, a Marcus Flint, seemed especially heartbroken upon being beaten. The Beauxbaton student was a challenge, but luckily enough had tripped on a rock and thus Harry had been able to disarm him. Other challengers had approached him, but they had all been stopped by either professors or from the Hogwarts prefects.

Harry's training had been progressing well, especially with the stress of the tournament diminished. He had completed his required work for the year in several of his subjects, specifically transfiguration, charms, magical theory, arithmancy, and creature studies. His work on potions was still behind, but he was catching up with the help of Daphne. He did notice Professor Snape watching him closely whenever he was in dungeons, unsure if it was because he was dating Daphne, or he was an outsider and therefore had to be watched, or some other reason. But, the man kept his distance so Harry paid it little attention. He was technically done his homework for rituals having finished the book, but the later chapters were still confusing, and Harry could make little of their meaning. When he spoke to Professor Selwyn or Albu they laughed and just wished him luck and suggested the Highmaster. When speaking with said man, he would just tell Harry he needed to find the answer himself. One could not be taught, but only guided.

So, Harry was concentrating on battle magics. He was still working on the _Melenchalad_ , which was exhausting. It was proving more difficult than the _Narya iz Anor,_ which was frustrating. Professor Selwyn had laughed and assured him he was doing fine.

But, the break had to come to an end. On a Friday at the end of May, the champions were all summoned and led down to the quidditch pitch. Where once was a nice green well maintained field, now was a giant wall of hedge.

"As you see this is your final task!" Harry felt as if he was missing something as all he saw was the Hedge. how was that a task. Thankfully Viktor asked the question.

"What is it?"

Bagman's smile faltered for a second, "Surely you can tell?" He look at their faces, and everyone must be feeling the same as Harry for Bagman continued, "It's a Maze! You will have to enter the maze and reach the Triwizard Cup which will be a the center. Mr. Potter and Mr. Black will enter followed by Mr. Krum, then Mr. Diggory, followed by Mr. des Cartes, with Ms. Delacour bringing up the end. Inside the maze you will face many surprises that the different teachers have supplied. Any questions?" Hmm, a race. Well this was not to bad. Just had to prepare all around. "No? Alright let's head up to the castle there are some people wishing to speak with you." Ah great more reporters, was all Harry could think. Soon they were led to a room, where upon opening it they found a pleasant surprise.

Harry could see his Aunt, along with others. Harry recognized the Potters and Sirius, and Viktor's parents. The others must be the other's families. Harry quickly walked over to his Aunt and gave her a hug. Bagman told them that they had the afternoon to spend with their families. Harry and his aunt quickly set to leave, but they were caught.

"Dorea! Wait a moment." Both Dorea and Harry turned to find James with his family and Sirius approaching them. "What do you say we all go to the Three Broomsticks? It would be nice for all of us to speak." Harry turned to his Aunt hoping that she had some way out of this, but knew that unless it was really good declining would just cast suspicion on them. Harry's hopes were crushed.

"Certainly James, why don't we head there." The large group headed out and down to Hogsmeade. Thankfully a carriage was too small for all of them, so Harry and his aunt had space to themselves. "Don't worry dear. To them you are Sirius' nephew. That is all, so long is that is all we give them. How have things been going?" Harry quickly filled in his aunt, and told her briefly about Daphne. He could tell she wanted to discuss her more, but they had arrived at the village, and she knew that Harry would not speak about her in front of the others.

When the large group arrived at the pub, they were allowed to use a backroom for themselves. Most everyone got an order of butterbeer, except for Sirius who had Firewhiskey and Dorea with her tea.

"So, its nice to meet you Hadrian. I don't think we have had the chance to meet, yet?" Lily opened the conversation.

"No ma'am, I do not believe we have. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"We have heard quite a lot about you from Henry here. Seems your are quite gifted. We heard you split Black Lake in the last task?"

"Ah yes. I do fairly well in my studies."

"Well? Harry dear, you were top of your grade last year." Dorea couldn't help but brag to the Potters.

"Top of your year? Impressive. What is your favorite subject?"

"Battle Magics. It is sort of like the Defense class here."

"Is that where you got your nickname?" Harry cursed, internally of course. Sirius had heard the Harry's nickname from his time at the school investigating.

"Nickname? I hadn't heard of a nickname." James seemed to become very interested in that fact, Harry briefly wondered why.

"Ya the kids are calling him the Raven!" Sirius was not observant enough to notice Harry glaring at him, or Henry either. Harry thought it was quite strange that the boy was being so quiet, in all of his other interactions the boy seemed much louder. Perhaps it was due to the presence of the boy's parents?

"The Raven, why do they call you that?" Lily once again.

"It comes from a few places I guess, in part due to the family's crest being a raven, and then in part due to my interest in battle magics. Some I guess connected it to an old god of war." That seemed to surprise the older Potters.

"Oh, well. That is, umm, good?" Lily seemed to be struggling with what to say to that, James seemed to withdraw from that, and Sirius seemed impressed. "How are you finding Hogwarts? Do you find the classes comparable?"

"For the most part yes. Some of the requirements are different, like Astronomy is required here, instead of arithmancy at Durmstrang. Also, at Durmstrang we have a magical theory course where we cover most theoretical work for courses like charms and transfiguration which allows those classes to be more practical focus. Though, I believe, from my discussions with other students that Hogwarts and Beauxbatons spend more time on theoretical, than we do at Durmstrang."

"A separate class for the theoretical. Would you ever consider switching to Hogwarts?" At this Harry froze, Why would they want to know that? Had they reali- a quick grasp of his hand by Aunt Dorea stopped the worries that had spread through Harry with the comment. She smiled, and answered for him.

"No I don't think Harry is interested in doing so. He has quite enjoyed Durmstrang and its teachers are quite excellent." Harry couldn't help himself and added his own comment.

"And, we don't have any stupid houses." This seemed to cause the other males in the room to become defensive.

"Hey Hog-"

"Gryffin-"

"Stup-" A loud cough from Lily seemed to stop all three. Harry had to use his occlumency training to stop from smirking.

"Hadrian, you do not like the house system? It dates back to Hogwarts founders you know."

"Hmm… well it seems a very stupid practice to me, and the other Durmstrang students. From the few discussions I have had with the Beauxbatons students leads me to think they agree as well."

"It allows for the students to be grouped with people who share the same traits as they do. Further that group then is able to act as one's family at the school. The bonds formed between house mates last well past their time at Hogwarts, why myself, James, and Sirius were all friends at Hogwarts and look at how that has grown." Harry almost made mentioned that it had grown to abandoning a child, but restrained himself.

"And, don't forget Quidditch! Its how the quidditch tournament is organized!" Sirius had to add his own input.

"Well, from what I have seen it creates discord and infighting between the different houses. Often people are stereotyped based solely on their house, and it seems that such stereotypes continue long past one's time in school." Here Harry pointedly looked at Sirius, which caused the man to look away. Lily and James both caught it and frowned. "As to quidditch or any other extracuricular you just have students form their own teams. That's how we do it at Durmstrang. And, we play more often and have more teams that way, last year I think there were 7 full teams and couple partial teams."This seemed to draw in Sirius, James, and Jim. More teams meant more quidditch, and all three liked that idea.

"Also, the whole idea is ridiculous. You are placed when you are eleven, no? So you are telling me that someone doesn't change or grow from the time they are 11 years old? Further, people are defined by more than just one trait. I find it offensive that am either cunning, loyal, brave, or studious." Harry had started to rant, but thankfully Aunt Dorea gently squeezed his hand again and it seemed like she was going to way in.

"Personally I enjoyed my time at Hogwarts and no issues with the houses," Here the Potters, Harry had started counting Sirius as one, all looked pleased, "but, we did let it define us to the degree that you generation did or Henry's. Why I myself was Slytherin, but my best friend was Gryffindor. She even ended up marrying a Slytherin as well. And, certainly after Hogwarts no one thought about it. I mean can any of you tell me Alastor Moody's house?"

"Well, Gryffindor for sure." Henry, of course fell for the bait.

"Ha he was Slytherin. Gryffindor, that man was one the reason's my house won so many house cups during my time." This information seemed to shock the three men once again. Henry looked especially confused.

"But, but he hates dark magic!"

"Hates dark magic? What are you going on about? I personally know that man knows a tome or two of dark magic. He hates criminals, especially murders and such, but he will use any legal spells, light, dark, or grey. I am sure your parents could tell you about him using the unforgivables in the last war. All aurors from then did." Harry thought back to Moody's use of imperious on the students. He did not doubt it. "Like I said most from my generation did not give one lick about houses, especially after school. Your generations are far to concerned about it."

"But, Slytherins all become Death Eaters!" Henry again, Harry almost decided to curse the idiot. Sirius and James looked to agree, Lily looked conflicted.

"Oh, do tell me the name of individual who gave up your fidelus again?" Aunt Dorea's question hit the Potter stronger than a bombarda. James scowled and muttered the name under his breath. Aunt Dorea continued as if she heard him, "Ah, yes Peter Pettigrew. Now If I remember correctly he was in Gryffindor, no?" Here James and Sirius just nodded. "Why wasn't Crouch's son convicted as well? He was a Ravenclaw. Death Eaters can come from any of the houses. Further if you had said that in front of Alastor or Rufus Scrimgeour, they would not be pleased."

Harry had no idea who this Rufus was, nor did it appear Henry either, "Rufus Scrimgeour? Who is that?"

"My boss." It was James who answered. Harry had to give it to his aunt, that was nicely done. She had used Henry to remind James and Sirius that there prejudice could land them into issues at work, and she reminded them that she knew far more about their lives than they did hers. Or His. Unfortunately such a subtle move was beyond the youngest Potter for he continued on his arguments.

"But they are all purebloods who only care about their blood status!" Harry was able to take this one.

"While many Slytherins are purebloods and come from old families, not all are. Tracey Davis is a half-blood whose father is muggleborn." This seemed to catch Henry, who looked shocked. Seriously he had been going to school with the girl for four years and he knew so little. They even had a small class size, with number of births dropping until after the first war.

"Well what about Draco? The Malfoys are terrible! He is always calling Hermione a mudblood and other things. Why he had said that Neville should have been abandoned by his family for being a squib!" Suddenly the adults all sat straighter, and Dorea tried to grab Harry's hand, but he pulled it away.

"Oh how is that different from your family!" Henry looked shocked, his parents looked both scared and defensive, but Harry pushed on with his anger, "Where is your brother? What happened to the squib twin of the Boy-Who-Lived? Have you seen him in years? Have you written to him? Do not talk of Draco and his family when yours is just as bad. Worse really, at least Draco does not pretend to be something that he is not. Hypocrites!" With that Harry stormed out of the building. He had not realized fully what he had done and said until he was several shops down from the pub. He slowed and stopped. Merlin, if they realized, if they connected his anger. Shit he needed to talk with Aunt Dorea, but she was in there still. He hid around one of the buildings and kept an eye on the Three Broomsticks. He saw the Potters come out. Henry was glaring at his parents and Sirius was bringing up the rear. He saw them head back towards the carriages and castle. A minute later his aunt came out. He almost ran up to her like he was a boy of eight again.

She was not pleased, her frown in her eyes showed that, but as soon as Harry was near she gabbed and hugged him. "Oh, child. Don't worry it is fine. I told them that I told you when I went through our family's history. They were too busy fending off Henry's questions to think to much on your anger. I don't think the boy knew." Harry gave her a sharp look. "Remember Harry you were only a year when you left their house. If the Dur-, if _they_ had not treated you the way they did, and I not found you, would remember him, or them?" Harry had to shake his head. "So, I think they will be far to busy dealing with his questions to give us much thought." That seemed to quell Harry's concerns, but the ride back the castle was a quiet one.


	11. Chapter 11 Entering the Maze

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Harry Potter franchise. Reviews are appreciated, the story does not record the proper update date, and Thanks for Reading.

After his blow up at the Potters Harry had heard nothing from them, though they had been back the next day. It seems that Viktor and Henry had taken a walk that night for some reason and been attacked by Barty Crouch. This had meant the auror presence at the school increased, and the champions were each assigned a guard. Thankfully Harry was assigned a Tonks as his guard, who was fun and would occasionally duel him. Harry had been shocked a couple days later at breakfast.

He was sitting with Daphne, Klaus, Marcsa, Blaise and Tracey. Klaus and Marcsa had picked up enough English that they could communicate quite well, and if they didn't know a word, Harry was there to help. They were discussing international politics. Most of the English seemed very ignorant of continental Europe and it various ministries. Tracey was asking about working in the Carpathian Mountains and had been shocked to learn Transylvania has its own ministry separate from Hungary or Romania. The conversation died down when owls started landing. Harry noticed his aunt's owl Donatello come sweeping in. The surprise was when it landed in front of Daphne, not Harry.

"Whose owl is that Daph?" Tracey asked looking over.

"I don't know. I have never seen it before." Harry reached over to grab the letter.

"Its my aunt's. He must be slightly confused." As he was close to the letter, Donatello snapped at his hand. The bird had never done that before. Daphne reached for it, and he did nothing to stop her. Grabbing the letter she opened it and smiled.

"It is from your aunt, but its for me. It seems she wants to get to know me." Instantly Harry was nervous and tried to grab the letter. Daphne laughed and held it out of his grasp. "Oh, Mr. Black trying to steal my correspondence, shame on you."

"Why is she writing you? Let me see what she-"

"Tch, no, no. This is between me and your aunt. Come one Tracey, Marcsa, I need your help with this." All three girls got up and left, causing Klaus to laugh. Blaise joined in and said.

"Looks like you are out of luck there Harry. Your aunt and Daphne are talking together, you have just lost control of your life." Harry just sat there and shook his head. From then on Harry would see Donatello taking and delivering letters between the two, which had Harry worried, but he found out little of the conversation between the two. Besides that, the last month of classes and school went well. Harry helped Daphne prepare for her exams, he had been excused from his due to the tournament. He finished up his remaining potion's work and moved to concentrate solely on Battle Magics and the tournament. He had made significant strides in the _Melenchalad_ , but still did not have perfect control. He had perfected the last chains that Professor Selwyn had assigned, so the spell was the last thing Selwyn had wanted him to do. Harry was thankful that Henry had kept his distance during this time, and when they had crossed paths Henry would look away and avoid his gaze. He seemed to be ashamed that Harry knew his family's dark secret, but that was fine with Harry.

Finally the day came of the final task. Harry had been greeted by his aunt, again. Daphne was there as well, and as soon as Harry finished hugging Dorea, Daphne hugged her as well. The two started chatting, and Harry felt his nerves rise again. The two wished him luck and made their way to the stands to watch, as Harry made his way down to starting area.

Once there Harry found the other champions and Bagman. Bagman went over the rules, and the order that they would enter. He wished them luck and left. Harry and Henry made their way to the entrance and waited. The wait was tense, and Henry opened his mouth several times, but quickly shut it each time. Finally Bagman's speech to the crowd was winding down and suddenly there was a bang and Harry made his way into the Maze. He and Henry came to a T-intersection, both nodded and went their own way.

Harry came across a few obstacles, the worst being some big lobster creature. It had taken quite a bit to bring the beast down, but Harry had done so and continued on. Throughout his journey to the center he heard the announcements of the others entering the maze and soon everyone was in the competition. He didn't come across any of the other competitors, until about an hour since the final champion entered.

Harry was working his way back after coming to a dead end, when he heard something. Slowing down and casting a disillusionment charm, Harry got ready. Carefully looking around a corner Harry saw Jacques. The Beauxbaton student was fighting an acromantula. He seemed to be handling himself alright, but then Viktor appeared behind him. Viktor quickly dispatched Jacques and the spider. The efficiency, the cold brutality of Viktor's actions stiked Harry as odd. Viktor could be a hell of an opponent, but he was always concerned with winning honorably. This sneak attack was not in his character. Harry decided he would follow and watch Viktor. As he passed Jacques he sent up some red sparks and continued after Viktor.

Viktor moved through the maze as if he knew the layout, this began to become more and more confusing. Soon Viktor came across Diggory, whom he attacked right away. Harry watched as the two battled each other. Viktor managed to win and proceeded to send red sparks and move on. Following him Harry could not help but wonder at the surety of Viktor's movement in the maze; he continued moving about the maze directly, never back tracking and going in a certain direction. Eventually Viktor came across Delacour and attacked again. This match lasted longer allowed Harry to analyze Viktor closer. Harry could see Viktor's movements were very rigid and strained, much different than his natural grace and fluidity. The battle continued for a bit, but just as Viktor got a stunner on Delacour Henry turned the corner. Seeing Viktor Potter quickly struck, and his parents training showed through, he quickly hit Viktor with a stunner. Harry thought now would be a good time to intercede.

"Been busy I see." He must have spooked Henry, because the boy had jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Merlin! Way to give a guy a heart attack. I came across him fighting Fleur."

"Yes, he also got Diggory and des Cartes."

"What? That means we're the last two?" Harry could see Henry eyeing his wand.

"Yes it does. I came from this way, you from there leaving us with only that direction left. I say we both continue that direction until coming to a split and then separate." Harry could see Henry trying to see if Harry was tricking him, but eventually he gave in.

"I, ah, yeah. Yeah, that works for me. After you." As the two set off they sent of the red sparks and headed down. The path would turn every once now and then, but never diverged, it was fairly odd, until they made one last turn and ended up in front of the Triwizard cup.

"Well isn't this awkward. What do we do now? Duel for it?" Harry asked the obvious first.

"Ha, like I stand a chance in that. No, you are the better wizard, you take it." Harry frowned. What was this? Henry being modest, or was it some kind of trick? The boy looked sincere enough, but why would he give up his chance for victory. "Listen: take it. I know school honor and prestige is important to you, so take it. You have already given me a very important gift this year. I found out about my brother, and now I will get a chance to meet him this summer." That stopped Harry. He now believed the boy was being honest, but if the Potters went to the Dursleys...He would tell Aunt Dorea and work on that later.

"Scratch that we both take it." Henry looked like was going to argue, but then stopped.

"Who would win, then?"

"Neither, it would be a tie. Such things have happened in the past. Further the two youngest would be the winners that way. Glory and prestige to both Hogwarts and Durmstrang."

"Hmm...Deal!" They both approached and grabbed the cup at the same time, and then everything spun and went black.


	12. Chapter 12 Rituals and Secrets

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter name, setting, plot, universe, or such. Reviews are appreciated, I do try to respond to them with Private Messages. Thanks for Reading!

Harry recognized portkey travel as soon as it began, he had taken enough of them being a student of Durmstrang. That the cup was a portkey out of the maze made sense, but when they landed, Harry quickly realized they were no longer at Hogwarts. Looking around, Harry saw tombs and gravestones. This was definitely not Hogwarts. Henry started to straighten up, but Harry quickly pulled him down.

"Quiet." Harry hissed in his ear. He quickly scurried around to behind a large gravestone. "Listen Henry: we are not at Ho-" Suddenly a voice could be heard, so Harry stopped speaking.

"He isn't here master." Henry straightened and whispered a word with so much hate it shocked Harry.

"Pettigrew!" Well shit, they were taken here by Death Eaters, bullocks.

"He is. And, there is another with him. I saw two come with the key. Kill the spare." Now that voice made Harry's skin crawl. It reeked of evil and terror, high pitched, soft, and yet carrying a hint of finality. They heard scurrying. And, then Harry turned and saw the man and heard two words.

"Avada Kedavra" Harry knew no shield could block it so he moved slightly just enough that it missed his head and hit the tombstone. Thinking quickly Harry fell back and pretended to be dead. Henry let out a scream and then Harry heard the man grab and pull Henry away.

After about thirty seconds he opened his eyes and did a quick scan around without moving his body. He couldn't see anything so he he slowly moved his head, still nothing. He slowly sat up and still nothing. Grabbing his wand he crawled around making sure to stay hidden by the tombstones. He passed the cup and slowly worked his way toward where he thought the evil voice came from.

He could hear the first voice, Pettigrew's. Peeking around a tombstone Harry saw it. A giant cauldron with steam or other vapours rising, a fat, short man who must be Pettigrew, and Henry tied to a large tombstone. Suddenly Pettigrew grabbed some baby looking thing and dump it into the pot. Then he threw in a bone, cut his own hand off into it, and finally some blood from Henry. It must be some sort of ritual, but far from any Harry had read about so far. The cauldron seemed to bubble to the extreme and slowly the liquid grew and grouped to start looking like a man. Harry had to control himself not to gag, or throw up. This was not just dark, but evil magic. Harry knew some dark magic, but it was not evil, this- this was a ritual that could destroy someone's soul. The mass solidified until it looked like a disgustingly corrupted man, who had no nose or hair, but rather looked to be almost like a snake. The man walked to Pettigrew and pushed on the man's good arm. Suddenly a giant green skull appeared in the sky overhead.

Dear Merlin! It was Voldemort. That was the only thought that Harry experienced. Then he saw the snake-thing, Voldemort move to Henry. He freed Henry who fell to the ground and began talking softly to the boy. Harry was too far to make out the words, but he had an idea he concentrated and cast a simple floating charm on a rock near Henry. Henry was one his knees looking to the ground. He slowly moved the rock on the ground carefully trying to write HB OK B RDY. Henry looked up and around, so Harry hoped it worked, but then he heard the distinct sound of apparition and saw several men in black robes with skull masks. Merlin wasn't this getting better and better.

Voldemort seemed to speak to the group then conjured Pettigrew a silver hand. He cursed one of the Death Eaters which seemed to go on and on. The screams of pain from the man were frightening and Harry had to control his fear from turning into full blown panic. Then the weirdest thing happened. Voldemort walked to Henry, returned his wand and then took a dueling stance facing Henry. What was going on? Henry bowed, as did Voldemort and then it began.

Henry ducked and dived behind a gave and Voldemort started yelling out taunts. Henry was working away from Harry so he had to move over to him slowly without being seen. As he was doing this Henry began to engage with Voldemort, and was doing well, or as well as a 14 year old could against a dark lord. Then something weird began. Henry's and Voldemort's spells collided and some silvery white band of magic connected their wands. Harry had no idea what was going on, nor did it appear did Henry, Voldemort, or the Death Eaters. Harry lightly saw shimmering lights come out from the end of Voldemort's wand, but he could not make out what they were. This continued for a minute or so. Then Harry saw Henry look around and see Harry. Harry nodded and then Henry stopped what ever was going on between the wands. Harry instantly jumped up.

" _Melenchalad_." One word and the force of lightning erupted from Harry's wand. It almost got Voldemort, but the Dark Lord was too quick and soon had a shield up. Harry's spell was strong, and dangerous, enough that Voldemort needed to keep his concentration on the shield. The Death Eaters became scared and seemed to try to hide. Harry was unsure why, perhaps they thought him an auror? Meanwhile Henry dashed to the large tombstone Harry had been hiding behind.

"About time you got here you idiot, what were you thinking dueling him? And, what spell did you use to create that line?" Harry quickly spoke while maintaining his spell. It took lots of energy and he had started to sweat.

"Your, your Harry!"

"Of course I a-"

"No your my Harry! Harry Pot-" The shock of hearing him say that caused Harry to lose concentration and the spell ended with a clap of thunder. Harry instantly hid behind the tombstone.

"What, How?" Taking a breath Harry wanted to start questioning him, but no, first they needed to escape, they both could hear Voldemort yelling for Death Eaters to search for us. "Nevermind we need to leave."

"The cup, she said it would take us back we just need to get it." She? Who was Henry talking about? But, it didn't matter the cup was close. Henry instantly yelled, "Accio Cup," And it soared over. Harry instantly grabbed onto Henry and soon the feeling of instant travel was upon the two.

The dark, terror filled graveyard soon changed to a confused, clustered Hogwarts. They were both on some kind of stage. Harry was starting to feel extremely depleted from the _Melenchalad_ and was trying to stay conscious. Several people began to swarm around the two, most notably the two's families. Dorea quickly grabbed Harry and helped him to sit up, Daphne appeared by his side as well. Looking around Harry saw the Potters and Sirius attending to Henry, several aurors, a man in a suit with a bowler hat, and the headmasters of the three schools. The Highmaster quickly moved to look into Harry eyes, the man's concern was evident.

"A…" Harry tried to open his mouth to talk, but he found himself too tired even for that. The Highmaster seemed to understand and the look on his face changed slightly. Harry felt the traces of someone moving past his occlumency shields, but didn't bother trying to stop it. He doubted he even could. Merlin's beard, how long had he held the spell for to leave him so exhausted.

"You held it for a minute and half." Harry's eyes shot up to the Highmaster. A whole ninety seconds? Wow, the longest he had held it before was 42. "You did well. You will be taken to-" The Highmaster had sat up a looked to Dumbledore as he had spoken to Harry. Dumbledore was currently speaking with the bowler hat man, James, Sirius, Lily, and a lady knew he had met before, but he could not place at the moment. "Albus I suggest that Harry and Potter- where is Potter?" At the Highmaster's question Dumbledore and the Potters whipped around. They all stared at where Henry had been, not a moment before, but was know empty. Lily screamed and James pulled his wand, but Dumbledore looked around quickly, then turned towards the castle.

"Severus, Minerva with me please." The mentioned professors quickly moved to follow the headmaster, with Lily, James, Sirius, and the Highmaster quickly following them. Harry quickly moved to stand, something his body was not quite ready for. Both Daphne and his aunt tried to stop him.

"Harry!"

"Hadrian Black, you stay still young man you are in no position to-" Harry's mouth felt like it weighed as much as a hippogriff, but he was able to muster the strength to address the two.

"Henry, Death Eater." He wasn't sure if the two understood him, but he thinks his tone and face showed his determination, as they both stood and helped him follow after the group to the castle. They eventually managed to catch up a bit, following from a couple paces back. Dumbledore did not speak once, but instead moved with a sense of purpose and strength that you could truly see the man who defeated Grindelwald. Soon they made it to an office on the third floor. Dumbledore didn't even hesitate for a moment, but rather opened the door and instantly disarmed, stunned, and bound the occupant. It was brilliant, no words were cast as well as no wand movements, Dumbledore simply pointed and it occurred. Moving into the room Harry soon saw that it was Mad-Eye Moody incapacitated on the floor, with Henry in a chair who instantly started talking.

"Sir! He's, he's Barty Crouch!" Everyone looked at Henry like he was crazy, Lily and James both moved towards the boy.

"Honey, that's-"

"No not the judge, his son! He explained it all; he's impersonating Moody with polyjuice potion. The real Moody's in the trunk!" Professor Snape moved to said trunk and released it, looking inside he looked to Dumbledore and nodded. "See, he was the one that entered me into the tournament!"

"Minerva if you would be so kind as to get Amelia and Cornelius and tell them we have an escaped Azkaban prisoner that I am sure they would wish to speak with. James, Sirius I need you to go to my office and contact those that we can trust. The old group." James looked to Lily and Henry, but Lily smiled.

"Go James, I got him." James nodded the two left.

"Severus. I am afraid I will need to-" Whatever Dumbledore was saying Harry blocked out as he was watching Henry and Lily. When James had left Harry thought he had heard Henry say his name. He and Lily were holding a quiet conversation, one that seemed heated. Suddenly Lily's head snapped to Harry and she gapped at him.

"I want to go to the boat, now Aunty." His voice was quiet and took the last of his little energy. Aunt Dorea looked at Harry, then over at Lily, and then nodded and quickly took him from the room. The Highmaster was busy talking to Dumbledore, that the two didn't notice his exit. Daphne was with him the entire time, looking confused. They quickly made their way out of the castle due to Daphne's knowledge of shortcuts. By the time they were near the ship Harry was almost falling asleep. Daphne and Dorea were practically carrying him, which was made easier once Dorea had cast a levitation charm on him. As they neared the boat Harry's final words for the day were a simple, "They know."


	13. Chapter 13 Returning Home

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter, all that belongs to JK Rowling. Reviews are appreciated, and Thanks for Reading!

Harry slept for nearly an entire day after the third task. He remembers waking a few times. The first that he was able to recall, it was just him and aunt Dorea. She smiled, and he took a drink of something and then quickly fell asleep. The next he was woken by yelling, looking around his aunt was not present, and he was not in his cabin. This one was larger and he was the only one present. From outside the door he could hear a man.

"I demand to speak to him at once. He is needed to disprove the false claims about what occurred in the maze."

"No." The Highmaster's cold voice was not loud, yet carried well despite it.

"I am the Minister of Magic! And, and, I demand to speak to the boy at once!" So, that was the unknown voice. Sounded like a pompous git.

"He is British citizen, you cannot keep the minister from speaking to him!" This was a shriller voice, very high pitched, and the tone was one that you would use to speak to a toddler.

"No."

"Cornellius, please lets us retire to my office and we can speak about this, Mr. Black is recuperating and Highmaster Kirillovich has given his response." Dumbledore was there as well, what was going on outside?

"Minister, I suggest we send the aurors to retrieve the witness, since this man is stopping the course of an investigation." Bullocks. Harry started to sit up, they were going to send aurors to get him? What in Merlin's eternal bloody beard was going on?

"If an auror steps foot on this ship without my permission I will kill said wizard or witch." Well that statement sure shut up everyone outside. Gods, the Highmaster did not take things lightly. "Further I will contact each and every affiliated government with my institute and insure they know that the British Ministry of Magic has attacked Durmstrang."

"Sergey come now, there is no need for such statements. Such a thing would lead to war."

"I will not allow a student of mine to be taken, especially when their guardian has given strict instructions to the contrary. Now leave." Harry heard some more mumblings, but it sounded like that was it. Soon his door opened to reveal Professor Selwyn.

"Professor! What is going on? What was that about a war?"

"Black calm down. Or you will cause yourself to faint. It was nothing, just the idiot that you Brits call a Minister trying to board this ship illegally."

"But why? I heard my name, is it due to me?"

"No. Fudge is freaking out due to Potter's claims about You-Know-Who's return, He thought he would get you to call the boy a liar. But, your aunt left clear instructions that no one outside of the school was to see you. Even without such instructions the Highmaster would never allow a government to abscond with a student."

"But, war sir?"

"Don't worry about that Black. It comes from the Grindelwald's war. Remember your history?" Harry nodded, "Grindelwald stuck where first?"

"Durmstrang. He conquered the school first and it served as his base for the war."

"Right. Well to stop any such thing from occurring all the governments that we get students from signed a treaty saying they would come to defense of the Institute should it ever be attacked. It won't come to that, but it was a non-subtle way of telling the Minister to piss off. That man is to used to getting what he wants, it will do him some good to realize there are those who will not put up with his shit. Now drink this." Suddenly Selwyn pushed a deep purple potion into Harry's hand. The smell was terrible, but Harry quickly threw it back. The taste barely registered, before Harry began to drift off once again.

The next time that Harry woke, or at least remembered waking up, he was feeling much better. Looking around Harry saw he was still in the random cabin. Without thinking Harry sat up and looked around. He saw a set of robes and put them on. Still feeling a little sore, but no more than after a good workout. Moving to the door Harry tried to listen for anyone near it, but found he could hear little. Opening it he found himself on the deck, which meant he had been in one of the professor's cabin. Looking around he saw that the ship was no longer anchored at Hogwarts, but was rather moving quickly through the North Sea. Looking around he saw some the students doing work along the ship, and finally he found the Highmaster.

"Ah, Black awake at last. I am afraid that you missed the closing feast of the Tournament. You and Henry were declared in a tie for the championship. We decided that Hogwarts would hold onto the Cup, but here." Kirillovich handed a bag to Harry. Harry looking inside found that it was spelled to hold more than it could and be lighter than it should, for it contained a huge amount of Galleons. "500 galleons, half the prize. Congratulations. Now if you'll excuse me I must check on Mr. van Fries. He seems to be up to nothing good."

By the looks of it they were already halfway back to Durmstrang, so it should only take a few hours more to get back to the institute. Harry decided to spend that time reading. Soon enough they had arrived and docked. The ride up to the castle was quick and quiet. Harry sat with Klaus and Marcsa. Once they reached the fortress they were shepherded into the great hall. The Highmaster thanked all who went and professors who stayed for looking after the school. He then called both Viktor and Harry up. Harry was still out of it, but he made his way up. The Highmaster described their efforts and outcome in the tournament. Harry was paying little attention, but suddenly everything went quiet and everyone was looking at him. Viktor quietly whispered to him, "They want a speech from one of the winners."

Shooting a look of thanks to Viktor, Harry took a breath. "Umm, well I am thankful for the opportunity of to represent the school. I owe a huge thanks to Viktor, and all my Professors. It was due to their training and the lessons that I learned here that allowed me to do well. Uh...Study Hard." The ending almost came out as a question, and looking at the crowd he could see Klaus, Alexey, Arianna, Marcsa, and others who knew him laughing. Viktor was trying not to laugh, and only succeeded partly. The Highmaster gave a Harry a look, that if he was not so serious looking Harry would have thought it was repressed laughter. How one could portray laughter with a straight face, Harry did not know.

"Yes, thank you for your words Mr. Black. I am sure they will be taken to heart quite intently by the student body." If Harry was not blushing before he was now. He and Viktor were soon sent down to their tables. The rest of the feast progressed much same as previous years. Alexey and Ariana demanded to know about Harry's time at Hogwarts and questioned him throughout. When Klaus mentioned Daphne the questions intensified and Harry ended up trying to hide behind his food. Eventually everyone headed off to bed and Harry was spared the inquisition for a night at least.

The next day was the last day at Durmstrang and the students would be leaving the following day, so all the students who had gone for the tournament needed to speak to their Professors and hand in any work. Harry was nervous, but most seemed pleased with his work. Professor Draganov was surprised by the letter from Professor Snape declaring Harry's potions adequate. Draganov said that was high praise, as Professor Snape was generally one of the strictest potion masters he knew. Finally Harry made his way to the last class, rituals. Upon entering Professor Alfsson's office, he found it empty, and suddenly someone cuffed him upside the head. Turning Harry found Alfsson standing there looking mad.

"Told you to read, not practice. Read!"

"I...uh...but-"

"No buts. What did I say to you when giving you the book?"

"Read" Literally that was all the man had said.

"Right. Well for penance you must read this one over the summer." Harry was suddenly given a very heavy tome, twice as thick as the other.

"Umm, but sir I didn't really understand the later chapters of the first book. I-"

"Black listen here. What were my instructions?"

"Umm...Read?"

"Right, now I said nothing of understanding. You evidently understood enough to cast the crossing ritual, no? Well, make sure you only read this one. We will discuss understanding next year. Understood?"

"Uh,,,No?"

"Good, see you are listening better already. Now leave." With that Harry was pushed from the office and the door was shut in his face. Well that was extremely odd. Harry suddenly felt sorry for those who had stayed back at the castle in the class. Making his back to his room Harry began packing. That night was much the same as the one before with Klaus mentioning something about Hogwarts and Alexey or Arianna demanding an explanation from Harry. It continued the next morning as they boarded the ship and the trip back to Lubeck. Harry bid farewell to his friends and made the numerous portkey jumps back to England, where Harry flooed home. There he was met by his aunt who greeted him, and soon had Harry in a hug.

"How have you been? You were pretty out of it those days after the tournament. Something about extreme magical exhaustion?" Harry could hear the reprimand in her voice.

"I am better, I woke up good as new on the trip back. Though I do remember hearing the minister arguing with the Highmaster at one point."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that man. I have made it quite clear he nor the anyone from the ministry are to be speaking to you without first consulting with me." Harry had a questioning look on his face, how could she manage that when it took a threat of war to cause the man to back down. "It was nothing, dear. I just called in some debts to make the minister's grasp on his position much weaker than it is. Especially when his little secretary made some comments to me. Anyway, let's just say if they approach you, he will wish for a war with Durmstrang." Well that solidified how dangerous his aunt was, good thing she was on his side.

"And, the...what about them?" Dorea's face lost the look of triumph that she had been sporting.

"Well, that is another thing. They have been to the Dursleys, and to the ministry to check your records. I have received a few owls asking to speak with you, or me, or both. I wrote back that I felt that it would be better not to. The letters have been getting more insistent, but so far they remain civil. We will have to decide, together, how to handle this. But, don't worry, there is nothing that they can do legally, especially know with the minister set against them and scared of me. But, let's leave that for now. I thought you might enjoy spending the first part of summer at the estate in France." Harry quickly nodded. "And, I have it on good authority that a one Miss Daphne Greengrass and her family will spending time at their estate in France as well." Harry's smile grew, and began to think this summer might be better than it had appeared.

* * *

Well, that concludes the Raven of Durmstrang. I hope you enjoyed it. As I said at the top, reviews are appreciated, I would like to use them to fix any mistakes here and make sure the sequel is better. I have posted the sequel, named Hound of Death. It will likely end up being the same length. Again, Thanks for Reading.


End file.
